We were lucky to catch up with Lily Capierseho recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lily, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

This past year I have dedicated my painting practice to responding to our social and political environment.
My recent body of work emerged after moving from my hometown of Sarasota, Florida to New York City. Distance allowed me to see the place I came from with a new perspective. What felt stable and familiar now feels delicate, as if the social and emotional foundation I grew up on is beginning to crack.

These paintings explore girlhood, suburban life, and the uneasy transition into adulthood. They reflect the experience of growing up in a small American town while becoming increasingly aware of larger global realities and political uncertainty. As my generation moves into adulthood and inherits the future of America, the work questions what it means to build an identity within a culture that can feel unstable, performative, or difficult to trust.

The paintings are created through a range of processes and material approaches. Some works use poured paint and experimental mediums, while others are more representational, depicting specific places, objects, or memories. Through this variation, I am investigating how many ways the same emotional reality can be communicated. Each painting approaches the same fracture from a different angle: memory, place, femininity, nostalgia, and disillusionment.

Lily, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Lily Capierseho is a painter from Sarasota, Florida whose earned her BFA in Studio arts at the University of South Florida and is continuing her education in a MFA of visual arts at CUNY Brooklyn College. With her grandmother being a painter, educator, and gallerist, she was exposed to the world of fine arts at a young age. With this background and a love for creation she knew that a career in the arts would be best suited for her. Since, she makes works related to her identity from roots of Italy and North Western European as well as her upbringing in Florida.

As seen in the Morean Arts Center, Fresh Squeezed 9: Emerging Artists in Florida. She was known for making playful mixed media paintings about her life and my family history in America. There are themes of identity and self expression, mortality, love and relationships, and nature. You can see a representation of an American family in her paintings with some nostalgic aspects. She would make these paintings to showcase her family while understanding my own identity more. She hopes her audience will recognize feelings about the setbacks one can face when deeply analyzing their own identity and their familial past.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After moving from Sarasota, FL to Brooklyn, NY to pursue my career as a painter, I have faced so many set backs. The first being my first home in Bushwick experiencing a terrorist attack. On Thursday June 12, 2025 at 3 AM my building on the corner of Dekalb and Myrtle almost caught fire and everyone in it could have set ablaze. The LA No Kings day Protestor put homemade explosives in 10 Police vehicles that were parked on the side of the building. 4 Vehicles set ablaze beneath my kitchen window. I was the first to see it and I watched the fire grow for 5 minutes before I realized we all could catch fire. I try to get my other two roommates. Once I get to the main stairway I see the landlord screaming “fire!”. No one is getting out of their beds, I bang on the doors on my floor. I say we have to go and no one gets up. So I run to the first floor and see the firemen who ask me how many people are inside. At this point, I have a pure fear that everyone could blow, everything gone. I am shaking and can barely walk. Thankfully they retrieved everyone and the building did not set ablaze.

This was only 4 months after my move to the City. I seriously considered not living here and not pursuing my Master’s degree program at CUNY Brooklyn College. However, I knew that I was lucky enough to have the chance to make art about my life experience and I will not give up that easily.
Of course there were many other set-backs since the past year, but this one was the worst.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I believe there is a strong and terrifying disparity between America South and American North societies that is completely unnecessary. I get it because I am the creation of both contrasting worlds. With this, I hope that the outputs from this creative journey will formulate a solace for others in need of one. Life is full of suffering and ugliness, but it is also full of beauty and love. And understanding this cycle will help build a resilience and understanding for us.
Religion is not popular amongst people who grew up similar to me. All we know is Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Kanye West, J-Cole, Lana del Rey. We need people like this to share their journeys.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://lilycapierseho.com
• Instagram: lilycapierseho