Hold the Door: Radical Contemporary Women Printers

Elaisha Hilliard Bien-Aime

About the Artist

Elaisha is a Detroit-based artist, specializing in relief printing and painting.  Within her work, one can find a range of familiar imagery in the form of portraits, mock adverts, still life, and patterns. Her pieces often feature subtle references to the minimalist, pop art and art nouveau movements, giving new life and perspective to the concepts from which she draws inspiration.

At the center of Elaisha’s work you will find many tributes to black women. Whom, as a black woman herself, she holds as her muses. She often places her subjects in environments, advertisements, clothing and media modeled after trends in the 1950s and 1960s eras. Much of her work reimagines this period with black women featured in positions of peace and leisure. As an artist, her ultimate goal has been to portray people of color outside of traumatic spaces. 

As far back as she can remember, Elaisha has had a love for creating art. She was known as the edgy, creative one amongst her peers and frequently voted as “Most Likely to be an Artist,” in school. Early on, she knew she wanted to pursue art professionally when she grew up. And now, years later, she is making that dream a reality as a full-time artist, who not only shares her fine art in the form of original paintings with the world and collectors, but through the creation of art prints, screen printed bags and paper goods, she is able to consistently provide affordable art products to the masses. 

photo of artist, Jennifer Graves in front of her work

Artist:

Elaisha Hilliard Bien-Aime

Social media: @artlaish

Exhibition

Hold the Door: Radical Contemporary Women Printers

This collagraph monoprint of an American army uniform, adorned with patches of both Korean and U.S. flags, serves as a poignant reflection on identity and the visible traces of American influence on South Korea’s history. It also speaks to my own experience growing up as a first-generation, gay Korean immigrant.

Ripe Fruit Will Fall When It’s Ready
Linocut
14”x11”
2023

This print reveals a layered composition of undergarments—an intimate counterpoint to the visible uniform. Through graphite transfers and pressure printing, the work exposes the concealed labor and vulnerability beneath the surface of military presentation. Referencing the hidden layers of identity, gender, and desire, it reflects the internal contradictions of growing up queer within hypermasculine, militarized environments.

Sheba
Linocut
10” x 8”
2023

Referencing the Korean baek-il (백일) celebration held 100 days after a boy’s birth, this print explores the cultural weight placed on children to fulfill family hopes and carry on legacy. The image of a ceremonial hanbok and symbolic objects evokes the traditional practice of choosing a child’s future profession—now viewed through the lens of personal anxiety, projection, and intergenerational pressure.

The Red Room
Linocut
19” x 13”
2023

Rooted in the imagery of traditional Korean hanbok worn by girls, this work reimagines the archetype of the "princess" not as delicate or ornamental, but as powerful. The piece speaks to the social expectations placed on young girls in a patriarchal, male-preferred society, offering a critical yet tender reflection on beauty, duty, and self-determination.

Do You See This Coat?
Linocut
12” x 9”
2024

This sculptural installation uses layers of translucent dry-cleaning plastic imprinted with graphite to create ghostlike forms of uniforms, echoes of militarism, and the residual presence of memory. Referencing the artist’s childhood in a Korean-American dry-cleaning business, the piece intertwines personal history with broader questions of valor, sacrifice, and the overlooked labor behind symbolic cleanliness and national pride.

Nefer
Linocut
10” x 8”
2024

No Shoes on This Rug at Dawn
Linocut
10” x 8”
2024

My Memory Reunited Us
Linocut
14” x 11″
2023

This print captures the invisible yet mounting pressures of war through the use of folded latex balloons as a matrix. As the forms explode under compression, ink is pushed outward—leaving behind magnified traces that resemble impact craters, shrapnel, or bursts. The resulting image becomes a symbolic battlefield, where material rupture echoes psychological fracture. The folds, the pressure, and the stains collectively visualize the unseen force of trauma and its imprint on both body and memory.

Computer Blue
Linocut
14” x 11”
2025

Don’t be a Crybaby
Linocut
19” x 13”
2024

The Queen of Sheba Visits King Solomon
Linocut
14” x 11”
2024

You’ve Got to be Seen Green
Linocut
19” x 13”
2024

Les Bonnes Filles
Linocut
18” x 12”
2025