The Magical World of Misery

I have painted these types of images since I was little. It's just a part of who I am and what I find humorous. I love portraying my quirky visions and playing on people's insecurities. I think that's often why they're accepted by quite a range of different people. We can all look at them and find a little part of us.

– Tanja McMillan on her art, Pavement, August 2003, page 16

She's got a very sharp business mind in there, and she's constantly planning and drawing and capturing little images all the time in her mind of everything that's going on around her.

– Tanja McMillan's mum, Rochelle Thompson, describes her daughter

They never really seemed to be into my style, ever . . . On one occasion, they wrote on one of my briefs, in brackets at the bottom of the page: "No cutesy characters". Having those ideas put into my brain every day just made me really mad and made me just want to do what I do more and more...

– Tanja McMillan on why she left art school to pursue her own creative path

It's just a really good feeling to do something that's not for anyone else, just for you or whoever might like to look at it. But it's not for money, it's just for having fun and getting up to mischief.

– Tanja McMillan on what drew her to street art