Ma Lili was born in December 1988 in Chongqing, China. She graduated from the University of the Arts London with a Master's Degree in 2015, and from the Oil Painting Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) with a Bachelor's Degree in 2012. She graduated from the Middle School affiliated to the CAFA and was guaranteed a place at the CAFA in 2008. She currently lives in Beijing and teaches at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SAFA).
Influenced by humanistic geography and oriental philosophy, Ma Lili's works explore the interaction between human perception and nature, as well as the themes of eternity and the ephemeral in time and space. Her works share a de-nationalized, de-regionalized, vast, and infinite inner experience, conveying an atmosphere of sacredness, tranquility, and grandeur. The main elements in her works are extracted from her surroundings and natural information gathered from social media. Through this, she attempts to discover more commonalities and connections within human culture and the subconscious in an increasingly contradictory, conflict-ridden, and fearful post-pandemic international society, conveying a healing power through her works.
Her selected exhibitions include Disappearing Exhibition No.4-Nature's Silence, Zhi Art Museum, Chengdu, China (2023); Individual Project One Second in Central Park-1+x Academic Nomination Exhibition of the School of Modelling, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing, China (2021); Good news & Bad news, 798 Art Centre, Beijing, China (2020), Green Belt Project, Zheng Guan Art Museum, Beijing, China (2017), Ningbo International Contemporary New Youth Art Festival Invitational Exhibition, Ningbo Art Museum, Ningbo, China (2017); The First Art Media Nomination Exhibition of Young Artists, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Museum, Chongqing, China (2016); Blooming like a Flower Bracket: 13 Artists in Multidimensionality, Luohu Art Museum, Shenzhen, China (2016); Gaze, Tian Di Art Centre, Beijing, China (2015), etc.