Julia-Anna Simonchuk
Contemporary Artist
Artist researcher based in London, UK
Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Biography
Originally from Kyiv, Ukraine, Julia is currently based in London. She is a recent graduate from BA (Hons) Fine Art at Central Saint Martins (UAL) and is a current student on MA Fine Art at Slade (UCL). In 2023 she received UAL SU Arts Award in a category «Outstanding Student Contribution to Community» and was nominated for MullenLowe NOVA Awards.
Julia is working with various media, including sculpture, collage, installation, dance and performance and socially-engaging projects. She has experience in participating in cultural, theatrical and visual art events (e.g. Gogolfest, ProEnglish Theatre, both in Ukraine) and collaborative performance projects of CSM with Studio Wayne McGregor and the National Gallery. In September 2022 she organised and performed on a fundraiser classical music concert Sounds for Ukraine in St. Paul’s Actors Church Covent Garden, London. The event involved both critically-acclaimed pianists as well as talented amateurs performing classical pieces by celebrated composers and their own compositions inspired by Ukrainian music. She has an experience in designing posters (UCL academic event) and album cover («Alternative Readings», Michael Finnissy).
In 2021 Julia was a presenter at Post-Socialism and Art symposium at TrAIN research centre, organized by Dr Nela Milic and since then has been following and is starting to be involved in activity of the community of artists and scholars working with the questions of power, ideology, decolonisation, Eastern European art and history and memory studies.
Credits: Mariia Mykhailova
Artist Statement
In my research and practice I am exploring ideas around power, ideology, cultural identity, historical memory and time. The focus is on the urban and the natural landscapes in relation to ideology, specifically - architecture under totalitarian regimes. I am engaging with the conversation around Soviet monumentalism and the approaches to its demonumentalisation in my home country – Ukraine. I am looking at these themes in conjunction with the concept of the uncanny.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the russian federation in 2022 I have been reflecting on the function of art and the role of an artist in society - the questions of politics of culture and public art and who it serves. Whether an artist has agency for making a change and what could be the ways of contributing to resistance to tyranny and lies using skills and platforms artists have. Also, my practice has shifted towards being more collaborative and socially-engaging.
Although addressing grand narratives & ideologies and debunking of those I normally work with a small scale and use delicate and fragile materials such as casting wax, foam board, paper. This way I am reversing the meaning/nature of a phenomenon, trying to question, desacralise and subvert it. For instance, with a notion of the monumental - making works that are antonyms, direct opposites to what the word is associated with: grand, sublime, colossal, permanent becomes fragile, unstable, miniature in size and transient.
Education
2023-2025
MA Fine Art, Slade, UCL
2020-2023
BA Fine Art, Central Saint Martins.
1st Class Honours
2019-2020
Foundation Diploma in Fine Art and Design,
Central Saint Martins - University of Arts London
2017
Short Courses - University of the Arts London - Fine Arts and Theatre Design at Central Saint Martins college and Fine Arts at Chelsea college
Professional Experience
2024
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Slade Interim Show, showcasing 'Testimony of CHAIKA-II'. Link
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Fundraising auction and exhibition Art Aid Ukraine. Link
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There is Something New Under the Sun, Slade Postgrad group show at TANK Magazine space, London. Link
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Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Showcased 'Monumental Threat' and 'Friendships End' at Museum Late in the context of William Blake and Conflict Beyond Borders and Forms.
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Album cover art design 'Alternative Readings' by Michael Finnissy (label: Métier). Release: March 2024. Link
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'Re-Prise' - group show at the OPENING, Koppel Project, London. Link
2023
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Slade Postgraduate interim showcase. Link
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Event in a context of a project: Camouflage. Wings We Desire. St Andrew's Chruch. 4th and 6th June. Link
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Central Saint Martins Graduate Showcase. Link to online showcase of the graduation project
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Presenter at Central and Eastern European Creatives Network event hosted by Centrala. Link
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Poster design (based on Jonas Staal painting) for 'Socialist Anthropocene in Visual Art. Project' by Maja and Reuben Fowkes (Postsocialist Art Centre UCL).
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CSM Open Studios, showcasing 'Regaining Paradises'. Link
2022
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'I Dance the Other' (collaboration of CSM BA Fine Art and Studio Wayne McGregor
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'Touched' (CSM BA Fine Art and the National Gallery) - participant at Yasse Saidi's performances. Link
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CSM Open Studios, showcasing 'Monumental Threat'. Link
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USU Fundraiser Gala for Ukraine. Link
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'Sounds for Ukraine' - a fundraising piano concert in support of Ukraine, which took place in St Paul's Actors Church Covent Garden. Julia was in charge of organization, management, performance, communication and advertisement. Link
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CSM Open Studios, showcasing 'Altered City' and 'The Falling'.
2021
2020
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UAL Graduate Showcase (online)
2019
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Group show 'Painting Beyond Itself' at the Bomb Factory, London. Link
2018
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Illustration accompaniment to a literature event - Dramgurtok at Gogolfest, Vinnytsia
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Internship in the educational department of the Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv
2017
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Co-curation of an exhibition in the context of a performance of Nadar Ensemble on Gogolfest, Kyiv Link
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Participation in a performance "Freedom to be yourself” by Daria Koltsova at He for She Art Week, Kyiv
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Internship as an assistant in communication at the Unit.City Art Prize, Kyiv
2016
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Personal exhibition in Maisteriya gallery at The House of Artist, Kyiv