Michelle Tylicki was born in New York City, of Polish immigrant parents, and later relocated to Poland to finish her Masters in Fine Arts in Gdansk (2010), writing her thesis on Art and Activism.
For the past decade Michelle has been London-based where she contributes to local, national and international campaigns focusing on radical system change in the spheres of environmental, migrant, feminist struggles.
She uses the mediums of graphic design, illustration, animation and film, having also studied experimental film in Prague, Czech Republic (2007) as well as directs and produces performance art.
By creating visuals for grassroots groups to raise awareness to issues such as the anti-fracking movement, stoping the arms trade, and decriminalisation of sex work, Michelle tries to amplify marginalised voices through vibrant, often utopian themed imagery.
Michelle helps run the ad-hack collective Special Patrol Group, often skill sharing the history and DIY aspects of subvertising. She also produces, edits, directs and creates visual art for numerous subvertising films on themes such as anti-advertising 'Subvert the City' (2019) and anti-capitalism 'Subvertising Warsaw' (2018).
She designed, fabricated and built a functioning catapult as an interactive performance art of "violent-nonviolence" against the far right 'Trump vs. Catapult' (2019). That year she also produced a film for direct action group Reclaim The Power, which challenges state and corporate powers 'Power Beyond Borders' (2019). More recently she curated the Womxns Strike Exhibition (2020) about the theme of ‘sex sells’ in advertising from a radical feminist perspective which featured theatrical ad-hacking by sex workers and allies and a film she made ‘Vamps & Vandals’ (2020)
Tylicki explores performance art by producing and directing rebel street theatre, namely her climate clown wrestling troupe, The RenewRebels (since 2017). With rebel clowning and physical theatre The RenewRebels blur the boundaries between culture and resistance, to tell the story of the need for a renewable energy transition through the powerful medium of silliness.
