Tanja McMillan

Tanja Jade McMillan (born Tanja Jade Thompson, also Tanja Jade, and Misery 1982, Maryborough, Australia) is a graffiti artist, and painter of Tahitian and Chinese descent best known as Misery, is currently based in Auckland, New Zealand.

Art career
McMillan started painting as Misery since she was at Auckland Metropolitan College in 1997, where she became friends with fellow student, Elliot O'Donnell, best known as Askew, who given McMillan the name Misery. In 2010, McMillan temporarily abandoned the name Misery at age 28 when she felt the brand Misery was consuming her, by ceremonially auctioning off the last of the Misery works at Webb's auction house in Auckland. McMillan has since reclaimed the name Misery and describes her style as kimo-kawaii, creepy and cute in Japanese. Her husband is a well known New Zealand tattoo artist Tom McMillan, best known as Tom Tom.

There are two bronze sculptures named Twist and Thief by McMillan on Karangahape Road, commissioned by Auckland Council, to be part of Auckland Council Art Collection in collaboration with John Oz. McMillan have collaborated with many well known designers and brands, such as New Balance, Blunt, Bitra, Casio Baby-G, Telecom, Serato and Piaggio.

McMillan has been shown extensively in New Zealand and internationally such as Berlin, Taiwan, Melbourne, Paris, Hawaii and Los Angeles.

Selected solo exhibitions

 * 2023: Happy Valley, Outré Gallery, Fitzroy, Australia
 * 2021: Fountain of Flowers, 12 Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2021: Tang Tang, Outré Gallery, Fitzroy, Australia
 * 2011: Momoka, Backwoods Gallery, Collingwood, Australia
 * 2010: Misery, Shed 2, Auckland, New Zealand

Selected group exhibitions

 * 2023: Horizon, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2023: A Place to Call Home - Contemporary New Zealand Asian Art, Bergman Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2023: Vanguard, Outré Gallery, Fitzroy Australia
 * 2022: Shiny Things, The Mercury Plaza, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2021: The Most Dedicated: An Aotearoa Graffiti Story, Dowse Art Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
 * 2021: Group Exhibition, Outré Gallery, Fitzroy Australia
 * 2021: The Maxx Dose, Corbin Estate Art Centre, Auckland, New Zealand
 * 2020: Yokai! Yokai!, Outré Gallery, Melbourne Australia
 * 2020: Perspective - Women in Urban Art, Fiksate Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
 * 2015: The Self-Drawing Hand (La Main qui dessinait toute seule), Danysz Gallery, Paris, France