Born in Manhattan and raised in Baldwin, Long Island, Lijah Schnei (they/she) was one of twins raised by a sexuality educator and a marriage & family therapist. Spending their teen years understanding and accepting their various identities, Schnei developed an interest in using visual art as the language to express the inarticulable complexity of embodying themself.

During their time at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, she used installation work (“I Just Want To Make Queer Art Without All This Shit Getting In The Way,” in the group exhibition “We Are Nobody Else” at the Museum of FIT) to create institutional critique; primarily examining how systemic transphobia/homophobia within their school overshadowed the queer joy of finding and making a queer family of their own. Schnei then started to create a body of work to celebrate their transness (“Sublimate,” in the 2025 BFA thesis exhibition at the Museum of FIT): a collection of macro self-portraits to explore the sensuality and pleasure of existing in a trans queer body of color. Their work aims to immerse their viewer in emotion, color, and texture.

Her collage work will be exhibited in a dual group exhibition (“Being HyperHuman”) at the Museum of FIT and at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design, and Technology in Bengaluru, India in 2025. Their work has also been auctioned at the United Nations International Bazaar, to support the United Nations Women’s Guild and their partner organizations.