Shala Miller

Shala Miller (b. 1993, Cleveland, OH), also known as Freddie June when they sing, was born and raised by two Southerners named Al and Ruby in Cleveland, Ohio. At around the age of 10 or 11, Miller discovered quietude, the kind you're sort of pushed into, and then was fooled into thinking that this is where they should stay put. Since then, Miller has been trying to find their way out and find her way into an understanding of herself and her history, using photography, video, writing, and singing as an aid in this process.

Taking up skin as a site of history and intimacy with the self and across generations, they hold space for the body's vulnerabilities and maladies. Miller works across photography, film, writing, music, and performance as a means of meditating on the conjunction of desire, mourning, pain, and pleasure.

Miller holds a B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her book, Tender Noted, was voted best photo book of 2022 by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and her artwork is in the collections of MoMA, The Studio Museum, the Hessel Museum, the Akeroyd Collection, and The Lumber Room, among others.