We Shut the Ghosts Inside

Mikarla Teague is a Meanjin/Brisbane-based artist and art therapist whose work explores themes of identity, grief, healing, and social justice. Drawing from her lived experience with mental illness, Mikarla creates evocative mixed media works that centre Queer narratives, neurodivergent perspectives, and the strength found in vulnerability. Her art practice is both a personal lifeline and a form of activism - offering visibility, softness, and solidarity to others navigating darkness. Through every brushstroke, she weaves survival into beauty. Follow Mikarla on Instagram, Facebook and check out her website. We become architects of our own survival. Brick by brick, wound by wound, we build walls believing they will keep pain out - never noticing what they trap within. 'We Shut the Ghosts Inside' explores the masks we wear, the chaos we carry, and the versions of ourselves abandoned in the name of protection. These creatures are not monsters but echoes - grief, fear, memory, longing. This work asks: what parts of ourselves must we finally set free in order to truly live?