Mi Yan is a visual artist and illustrator based in Wuhan, China. With a background in sculpture, she holds an MA in Design: Expanded Practice from Goldsmiths, University of London. Her practice is primarily developed through drawing and illustration, using fictional narratives, symbolic systems and world-building to shape her visual language.
Her work has been exhibited at Southwark Park Galleries, Glena Art Studio and Arrival Gallery in London, Redcar Palace in the UK, and 13b Gallery in Slovenia. Her work and practice have also been featured in Visual Art Journal, Divide Magazine, Goddessarts Magazine and Artist Talk Magazine. She received the Selected Work Award in the Chinese Illustration Art Yearbook 2025.
Her practice explores how consumer culture, technology and collective belief shape behaviour, relationships and everyday experience. She is also interested in how individuals understand and respond to the social systems around them. Through fictional worlds, symbolic characters and narrative spaces, she transforms social observation and personal experience into visual structures that can be entered and interpreted. Her work continues to explore how drawing and illustration can become tools for reflection, storytelling and the creation of meaning.
（Work）
Graphite on paper
21 × 29.7 cm
Coloured pencil and digital drawing (Procreate)
29.7 × 42 cm
Before I arrived(2026)
Graphite and mixed media on paper
39 × 54 cm
Procreate
Variable dimensions
Procreate
Variable dimensions
Procreate
Variable dimensions
（Emoji）
（Sketch）
（Other）
Oil pastel on paper
26 × 37 cm
Graphite on paper
39 × 54 cm