© Tara Li-An

Artist /Photographer 


Tara Li-An is a multi-disciplined artist based in Margate, UK. Currently she works commercially as a photographer, a film producer and a jeweller. 

After graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2002 with a degree in sustainable art & design, Tara worked in design, editorial and for numerous galleries.  Having experienced various creative paths, she's built up a photographic style which imbues all her creative experience. Using both digital and analogue processes, she seeks to break down narratives and transgress formal portraiture. Her photographs register moments where vision drifts, slips, and refuses clarity.

Tara's mixed-media work develops symbiotically with her photographic practise.  It comes from a more playful, intuitive side -  Hazy boundaries, aberrations of fantasies, esoteric themes and flexible memory creep into the work - really it's an ongoing exploration of liminal boundaries and magickal time.

Off-Season Margate 2026: 

"GAY AUDACITY" a group show curated by Maxi Bopp at 69a Northdown road, cliftonville. Artist Inc:

Manta Aruis, Asa Ariyoshi-Pope, Antony Burger, Tracey Emin, Karl Fagerlund, Stef Felton, Elias Høve, Keziah, Lennie, Sophie Lynas, Denai Moore, Shanna Nash, Sé M. Nomyo, Ray Prendergast, Ted Rogers, Em Rose, Megan Rose, Jimmy Ross, Dre Spisto, Danielle st James, Aleks Taralezhkov.

 "Stick Around " brings together a range of Thanet-based artists working with collage to explore the ways the art form can provide vital relief from the pain of mental health challenges.  Showing at Salon  followed by a showcase at The Grain Grocer 

Tara is currently working on several new series:

I am a rock -  Ongoing: A collection of stones and rocks that she has been collecting for the last 40 years - These all come with their own story - some fact, some fiction.  

Our brain is so presumptuous -  Tara has started exploring the idea that one's brain fills in the gaps. A series of incomplete paintings and sculptures - each completed by the viewer.

Aye-aye aye : Ai-Ai-Ai - This is a series of paintings. Tara has transcribed her dreams and fed them to an Ai program. They have sent her back their visual interpretations - And now she paints their imagery - from one realm to another and to another. 

More recent exhibitions:


May 2019 Tara was part of a two-person show (alongside Martina O'shea) at Betts Project, London, at an exhibition curated by the Sailmakers Collective. she showed a collection of portraits and the start of : Ode from a Nemophilist - Photo etchings of tree abstractions and the energy they exude. An energy loop is created between the camera, the body and the tree.  Once equilibrium is found, a slow exposure photograph is taken - the main body of this work is taken on Ley Lines. Some of these images were also shown at 'Utopia' at the Mile End Pavilion, part of the ECOfeminism festival (Oct 2021). This is an ongoing project.

2020, 'Pages of Hackney'.  Pulled landscape explored landscape through a series of abstractions. The photographic process is one which is quite instantaneous, and both artists use photography in a different way which is process driven. 30%  of sales are donated to Tree Council Charity (www.treecouncil.org.uk) 

2021, Tara was part of an mixed media exhibition A Glimpse of Kink, June 2021, at the Bateman Gallery of London. Showcasing portraits of Syn Ariad, mistress, fetish muse and artist: An immersive dialogue between art, life, and lifestyles - In times of censorship affecting art, sexuality and the production of radical content, the event sought out to be an occasion to fight cultural stereotypes and stigmas whilst bringing the community together.

August 2025 Margate pride presents: Queer Portraits at the Pie Factory. A Joint exhibition with; Brogan Bertie, Tara Li-An, Abi Birkinshaw and Kate Malyon. A collaborative show celebrating queer identity, resilience and the power of self-representation through the medium of portraiture. Tara exhibited some pieces from - Cross-pollination: Reflecting on Migration and Belonging in Margate, an ongoing project by Tara which started in 2024 - Combining black-and-white photography with interviews to explore themes of home, identity, and e/immigration, in Thanet, particularly Margate. Through a queer ecological lens, Tara emphasises the interconnectedness of humans, nature, and memory, highlighting how land holds the traces of migration. Tara’s practice blends photography with sewing, collage, and alternative printing methods, using plant-based materials to reduce her environmental impact. 

(Thank you, Arts Council, for the DYCP funding & access workers)



•    •    •

Clients & Collaborators




Using Format