Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Zurilla.
Julia, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Venezuela to Spanish parents and have been living in Miami since 2017. I am a multidisciplinary visual artist. As a child, I always enjoyed transforming objects such as dolls, clothes, family photographs, storybooks, and furniture to create a space of my own.
First, I trained as a fashion designer and worked with urban fashion brands, as well as a costume designer for theater and dance companies. Later on, I had the wonderful opportunity to be trained as an artist in Venezuela at the IUESAPAR (Instituto Universitario de Estudios Superiores de Artes Plásticas Armando Reverón).
This institute was created in the early 90s to provide art education in both practical and theoretical ways. Their educational model was designed to break down any preconceptions you may have had about art, reconstructing your vision to be more complex and complete. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in painting and mixed media. After that, I pursued a Master’s degree in Contemporary Art Representation Systems, also at IUESAPAR.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Being an immigrant, a woman, a mother, and an artist can represent a wide range of difficulties. However, the greatest struggle I faced was being in Venezuela from the year 2000 onwards, as the country rapidly and steadily deteriorated both politically and socially. Our family life, work project, and personal projects were severely affected. We actively participated in many civil society attempts to stop the government’s abuses from occurring in plain sight.
Since 2014, the protests were increasingly suppressed with more violence, which made our daily lives unsustainable. That was when we decided to emigrate. In late 2017, I arrived in Miami with my husband and son thanks to a visa for foreigners with extraordinary talents in art. Miami is now our home, and we are grateful for the close friends, family, and sea that surrounds us. The sea has kept me close, aware, and connected to myself.
We encountered a very friendly city, which welcomed us and recognized us almost immediately. A very different city from the one remembered from its big shopping centers, or from the excesses of the 80s. A city which despite being a “port city” that is growing quickly, is still a city that remains green, with a lot of nature.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As an artist who works with mixed media, I explore a variety of mediums, including video, textile art, text, installations, and photography. My interest is in the relationships between images from different sources, such as my personal photographs, family archives, narrative texts, dialogues, and poems. Through the process of collaging and revising, I bring these images together and create new meanings, releasing the trapped content.
While much of my work is digital, I sometimes feel the urge to return to the tactile nature of handcrafting. This is when I incorporate fabric, sewing, writing, drawing, and gardening activities into my creative process. Though sewing and gardening are physical activities, they also serve as mental sanctuaries for me, representing redemption. I like to think of this as my unique way of expressing appreciation and solidarity with domestic and feminine traditions.
I have been investigating the relationships between different media on the same subject for 20 years. My work has been exhibited at international museums, art biennials, institutions, and galleries such as The Americas Society Art Gallery in New York, Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation CIFO in Miami, Coral Gables Museum in Miami, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo MAC Lima in Peru, Theâtre La Colonie in Paris, PINTA Art Fair Miami, Cinemateca Distrital in Bogotá, Biennale of Contemporary Art in Mérida, FIA Caracas, Galería de Arte Nacional, Museo de Bellas Artes, and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Sziget Festival in Budapest, among others. Throughout the years, I have received prestigious awards such as the ExxonMobil Exhibition Prize/Galería de Arte Nacional Caracas, 26th National Art Contest/Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Mario Abreu, and the 63rd Salón Arturo Michelena Biennial, which is considered to be Venezuela’s most important art contest.
My work is included in major private and public collections and has been reviewed in art books such as The Biographical Dictionary of Visual Arts in Venezuela, Video in Latin America: A Critical History, and The Language and Political Vocation in Venezuelan Art.
What matters most to you?
My work often delves into everyday life, investigating the ordinary to discover the extraordinary. The idea of what is familiar and at the same time strange fascinates me. I incorporate images from family archives, narrative texts, dialogues, and poems to create a dialogue between them and explore their interrelationships. By doing so, I aim to liberate previously trapped content. Ultimately, my art reflects my personal relationship with life, with everyday objects and images serving as conduits for narratives about identity, belonging, and family.
In addition to my focus on memory, place, and belonging, I am also intrigued by topics related to migration, gentrification, and environmental issues. I believe that these concerns are closely linked to the themes of identity and belonging that I explore in my art, and I am committed to using my work to generate dialogue and awareness about these vital issues. It is crucial for me to get involved with my new community, to get to know it, and to grow with it. I am currently doing so as a resident artist at Laundromat Art Space based in Little Haiti, Miami.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.juliazurilla.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliazurillaj/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julia.zurillajimenez/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliazurillajimenez/?locale=en_US
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JuliaZurillaJ
- Other: www.screen-partners.com
Image Credits
Ayanirys Román, Rafael Núñez, and Jorge Castillo
