About
Credits: Varvara Uhlik
Julia is a London-based visual artist originally from Ukraine. Growing up in Kyiv during a period of intense social and cultural transformation shaped her interest in collective history, and personal experience of witnessing history-in-the-making has since become a key influence on her practice. Her recurring themes include power, the politics and ethics of memorialisation; hauntology, and time. Julia approaches these topics through sculpture, installation, and moving image.
A central methodology in Simonchuk’s work is the exploration of complex histories of oppression through an intricate dance of presence and absence and shifting of background and foreground. For example, she grants subjectivity and voice to an old photocamera (Testimony of Chaika-II, 2025); creates audio-visual dissonance by layering sounds from a past of a century-old repurposed prison over visuals from a dance social which was held there (The Time We Danced, 2025); or fabricates plaques for marking memorials that never existed (project in progress). Her work seeks to give form to the ideological, cultural, aesthetic spectres of the past that continue to haunt and still hold power over our present.
Education
MA Fine Art, Slade, UCL
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Central Saint Martins (UAL). 1st Class Honours
Foundation Diploma in Fine Art and Design. Central Saint Martins (UAL)
Short Courses: Fine Arts and Theatre Design at Central Saint Martins and Fine Arts (UAL) at Chelsea College Central Saint Martins (UAL)
Exhibitions and projects
Group exhibition 'Cloud Storage' in M17 Contemporary Art Center. (Kyiv, Ukraine) Link
One-week representation at Women in Photography project (online, Instgagram) Link
Panel talk Negotiating the GAZE(S) by Artisjustis Magazine at Bard Books (London, UK) Link
Conference Mobilizing and Weaponizing Memories of Soviet Oppressions (Warsaw, Poland). Screening of my films Testimony of Chaika-II and Backgrounds Link
Everything Everywhere All At Once, group show of Phantasmal Gallery (online) Link
Women in Jazz Archive, portraits of Mabel Hampton and Gladys Bentley for a digital archive project (online) Link
Slade MA/MFA Degree Show (London, UK) Link
It Fit On The Way Here, Group Show at Barbican Trust (London, UK) Link
Stage design and props for a theatre project Between the Lines at Libreria Bookshop (London, UK)
Slade Interim Show, showcasing Testimony of CHAIKA-II (London, UK) Link
Fundraising auction and exhibition Art Aid Ukraine (London, UK) Link
There is Something New Under the Sun, Slade Postgrad group show at TANK Magazine space (London, UK) Link
Showcase of Monumental Threat and Friendships End at Museum Late exhibition in the context of William Blake and Conflict Beyond Borders and Forms at Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, UK).
Album cover art design Alternative Readings by Michael Finnissy (label: Métier). Release: March 2024 Link
Group show Re-Prise at the OPENING, Koppel Project (London, UK) Link
Slade Postgraduate interim showcase (London, UK) Link
Event in a context of a project Camouflage. Wings We Desire at St Andrew's Church. 4th and 6th June (London, UK) Link
Central Saint Martins Graduate Showcase (London, UK) Link
Presenting at Central and Eastern European Creatives Network event hosted by Centrala (London, UK) Link
Poster design (based on Jonas Staal painting) for Socialist Anthropocene in Visual Art. Project by Maja and Reuben Fowkes at Postsocialist Art Centre UCL (London, UK)
Showcasing Regaining Paradises at CSM Open Studios (London, UK) Link
I Dance the Other, collaboration of CSM BA Fine Art and Studio Wayne McGregor (London, UK)
Participation at Yasse Saidi's performances at Touched project - collaboration of CSM BA Fine Art and the National Gallery (London, UK) Link
Showcasing Monumental Threat at CSM Open Studios (London, UK) Link
Collaboration on stage design for Hedda Gabler production of ProEnglish Theatre (Kyiv, Ukraine) Link
USU Fundraiser Gala for Ukraine (London, UK) Link
Organisation and performance at a fundraising piano concert Sounds for Ukraine at St Paul's Actors Church Covent Garden (London, UK) Link
Showcasing Altered City and The Falling at CSM Open Studios (London, UK) Link
Presentation at workshop in context of Post-Socialism & Art project at TrAIN Research Centre at UAL (online) Link
UAL Graduate Showcase (online)
Catalogue of Foundation group of Central Saint Martins (online) Link
Group show Painting Beyond Itself at the Bomb Factory. (London, UK) Link
Illustration accompaniment to a literature event Dramgurtok at Gogolfest (Vinnytsya, Ukraine)
Internship in the educational department of the Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Co-curation of an exhibition in the context of a performance of Nadar Ensemble on Gogolfest (Kyiv, Ukraine) Link
Participation in a performance Freedom to be yourself by Daria Koltsova at He for She Art Week at NAMU (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Internship as an assistant in communication at the Unit.City Art Prize (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Personal exhibition in Maisteriya gallery at The House of Artist (Kyiv, Ukraine)