Monika Plioplyte

Monika Plioplyte’s (b. 1989 Kaunas, Lithuania) narrative collages combine printed and cut paper, drawings, photographs, and other mixed media to form a pictorial interlanguage grounded in nature, folk symbolism, and the body. She is interested in myth as encoded knowledge, particularly as they relate to our connection to the earth, spiritual beliefs, and the uncanny. Plioplyte often uses herself as both subject and object, working through her own body as a site of exploration and a living work in progress. Whether developing textile-inspired patterns as metaphors for memory and language, creating self-portraiture rooted in everyday observation and imagination, or referencing and reinterpreting folk symbols and their meanings, she aims to capture what and how she is feeling in a specific moment and connect it to broader reflections on human psychology and the unseen forces that shape perceptions and beliefs.

Plioplyte's work has been exhibited at Hyde Park Art Center, Northern Illinois Art Museum, Monique Meloche, Columbia College Chicago, Boundary Space, and Mana Contemporary (IL); Rare Visions and Space_Space (CO); and the Davis Center at Harvard University, AREA Gallery, and Gallery Kayafas (MA). Residencies include MASS MoCA, The Center Program at Hyde Park Art Center, the Harris Barron Fellowship at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, ACRE, Vermont Studio Center, and the NEIU Art + Design Studio Residency. She has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the DCASE Individual Artists Program, the John W. Kurtich Foundation, and the Blanche E. Colman Foundation. Most recently she has been named Newcity Breakout Artist 2026: Chicago’s Next Generation of Image Makers.

Plioplyte holds a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives and works in Chicago, IL.