AWARDS and RESIDENCIES
2023 School of Visual Arts, Art Residency. New York
2023 and 2020. LMCC Grant. New York
2023. Muttatuck Museum award.
2022. Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Grant.
2022. Artist in Residence at El Museo del Barrio as part of SU-CASA program, a grant the city of NY established to teach seniors different art disciplines.
2021. New York City Artist Corps grant. NY
2021. Artist Rescue Trust (A.R.T) grant.
2020. Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant. NY
2019. Selected participant of the Creative Capital NYC Taller Program.
2018. First Nations Contemporary Biennial. Award of Merit by Frank Buffalo Hyde.
2018. Art Residency. Trestle Gallery.
2017. Certificate of Recognition by Laura Phipps, Curator The Whitney Museum of American Art.
2003. Comisionado de Cultura en Nueva York. Certificate of Recognition.
1999. Award of Merit. Museo de Arte Latinoamericano (MACLA)
1995. Luigi Prete Foundation Award. Rome.
1995. Provincial Museum of Art. Buenos Aires Award. Argentina.
1994. "Le Muse" Award. Florence. Italy.
1993. Provincial Tourism Department Award. Rome. Italy.
1993. Municipality of Affile Award. Italy.
1992. Certificate of Recognition Burckhart Akademie, exhibition "La Marina del Lazio". Rome. Italy.
1991. "Sculpture, Graphic and Design" Award. Rome. Italy.
1990. "Rome During The Renaissance" Award. Rome. Italy.
1990. Barberini Palace Award. Rome . Italy.
1989. Department of Cultural Affairs Award. Rome. Italy.
BIO:
Julia Justo (b. 1963) is an interdisciplinary artist born in Argentina of Indigenous-Italian ancestry. She currently makes her home in New York.
She works across mixed media, textiles and social practice.
She has exhibited extensively in the US and abroad including Asheville Art Museum, Hunterdon Art Museum, Smack Mellon, Bric Media, WhiteBox, American Folk Art Museum and Museo de Buenos Aires.
She has been granted numerous awards and residencies including Robert Rauschenberg Foundation grant, LMCC Grant, Su-Casa Artist-in-Residence, Trestle Gallery residency, SVA Art Residency, Creative Capital Taller artist, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant among others.
Her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, News NY1 and Memoir Magazine among others.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I am visual artist, born and raised in Argentina of Indigenous-Italian ancestry.
Using strategies drawn from the fields of education, research and community activism, I invite participation and collective imagining. My interdisciplinary work draws from history, biography and Indigenous knowledge; in it, I explore the intersection of memory, community and storytelling.
My work is informed by the intuitive and artistic indigenous folk wisdom from the first civilization to the more contemporary. I work across multiple disciplines such as mixed media, installation and social practice.
The participatory aspect of my artistic practice activates the audiences in awareness, supporting them as they make their first step towards becoming agents of change. This way community members are not just involved in the projects, but they are co- designers and co-collaborators of the project themselves, while examining our relationships with history, spirituality and collective memory.
Description of my most recent work:
“Domestic Workers and Street Vendors” series is a socially engaged project that explores labor, migration and memory via textile works. It portrays New York based immigrant workers.
I asked local my subjects to send me photos of themselves at their place of work. I created embroidery works based on their images. Community members are not just involved in the project, but they are co-designers and co-creators of the project.
Due to their legal status, participating workers in this project decided not to reveal their identities. The medium of embroidery allows me to acknowledge the contributions of the immigrant workers I portray while at the same time conceal and protect their identities.
In this time of exclusion and displacement, my work seeks to bring attention to personal stories of people often invisible to society while envisioning a more tolerant, respected and interdependent future.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS: 2023. “Fish Tank” exhibition. School of Visual Arts. NY 2023. “Family Ties” exhibition. Old Stone House Museum. NY 2023. “Interlinked” exhibition. NARS Foundation. NY 2023. NoMAA. “Women in the Heights” exhibition. Curated by Andrea Arroyo. 2023. Monmouth Museum. Group exhibition. New Jersey 2023. Muttatuck Museum. Group exhibition. Connecticut. 2022. “Giving Light: Arts for Social Justice Through the Lens of Human Rights”, curated by Beverly Emers. BronxArtSpace. NY 2022. “Women In The Heights” exhibition. Curted by Andrea Arroyo. NOMAA. NY 2022. “Lapdogs of War” exhibition. The Empty Circle Gallery. Curated by Raul Zamudio. NY 2022. “El Camino De Las Trenzas/The Road of Braids” exhibition. The Clemente Center. Curated by Lucia Warck Meister. NY 2022. “To Have And To Hold” exhibition. The Clemente Center. Curated by Anna Shukeylo and Yasmeen Abdallah. NY 2021 “Perfect Day”, WhiteBox NYC. Curated By Juan Puntes and Raul Zamudio. 2021 “Our Roots”, curated by Larry Weekes, Jamaica Center for the Arts. NY 2021. “Dissolving Borders II”. Chashama. NY 2021. “Resiliencia” exhibition. Howard County Arts Council. Maryland 2021. Summer exhibition. Hunterdon Art Museum. NJ 2021 “West Harlem Arts: Resilience 2021”, The Children's Art Carnival. NY 2021 “Love in the Time of Covid-19”, Delaware Valley Arts Alliance, Narrowsburg, NY 2021 “Giving Light, An Art Antidote To Gun Violence”, BronxArtSpace. NY 2021 Participatory performance art. Art In Odd Places (AIOP) 2021: NORMAL. NY 2021 “Dissolving Borders”, JVS Project Space. NY 2021 ”Keep On Keepin’ On”, A.I.R. gallery, NY 2020 “Bound Up Together”, curatted by Rachel Gugelberger. Smack Mellon Foundation. NY. 2020 “For the Love of Art: An Appropriated Intentions Exhibition”. Fort George Hill. NY 2020 “Ways of Protest”, Elysium Gallery, Wales. United Kingdom. 2020 “Touching Without Touch”, curated by Kathie Halfin, The Hive Art Community. NY 2020 “Resilience 2020”. Garner Arts Center. Photo exhibition curated by Bill Foley, Pulitzer Prize winning Photojournalist. NY 2020 “LGBTQ+ Pride Month” exhibition". Poe Center Gallery. NY 2020 Uptown Arts Stroll exhibition, curated by Patricia Miranda. NOMAA. NY 2020 “Works on Paper”, curated by Juan Hinojosa. Local Project. NY 2019 “Borimix”. The Clemente. NY 2019 Hot Wood Arts Center. Brooklyn. NY 2019 Latin American Art Triennial. BronxArtSpace. NY 2019 “Summer Exhibition”, Hunterdon Art Museum. NJ 2019 “Voracious Eye". Abrazo Interno Gallery. The Clemente. NY 2019 “In Our Own Words”, Weeksville Heritage Center. NY 2019 ”Book Art exhibition”. Noguchi Museum. NY 2019 “Mixed Media Dolls”. El Museo del Barrio. New York. 2019 “NOMAA’S Women in the Heights - Creating for Change”. Rio Gallery and The Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling. New York 2019 “Love/Hate”, Local Project, LIC, New York 2019 "Beyond Me Too". Pollak Gallery. Monmouth University. NJ 2019 "Art On Paper", Site:Brooklyn Gallery. New York 2018 Endless Biennial. Curated by Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo. Efa Project Space. NY 2018 “Crossroads”. AAA3A Gallery. New York. 2018 “Tactical Stream”. TBG gallery. New York. 2018 “Looking for America”. New Britain Museum of American Art. 2018 “Gateway To Imagination”. Farmington Museum. New Mexico. 2018 “First Nation’s Biennial”. Tubac Center of the Arts. Arizona. 2018 "Fantasy", Garibaldi Maritime Museum. Oregon.
2018 "Crossroads", Boricual College, Brooklyn, New York.
2018 "Art is Money, Money is Art". Rosso20sette Gallery. Rome, Italy.
2018 "WJS", The Art Complex Museum. Duxbury, Massachusetts.
2018 "Big Art". Monmouth Museum. New Jersey.
2018 "Photowork", BAC, curated by E. Jason Wambsgans, Pulitzer Prize winning Photojournalist. 2017 "Open Call: Truth", Bric Arts, Brooklyn, New York.
2017 "State Property", BronxArtSpace, New York.
2017 "Art Show", BWAC. New York.
2017 "Artist Co-Op", JCAL Jamaica Center for the Arts. New York.
2017 "Pop Up Exhibition". Queens Council on the Arts. 2012 Rio Gallery, New York, NY.
2010 "Bronx Latin American Art Biennial. New York.
2009 "United Nations Gallery Show". New York.
2008 "Latin American Art", The Rio Gallery. New York
2008 Centro Civico Cultural Dominicano. New York.
2007 "Hispanic Heritage, Taking Notes", United Nations Gallery, New York.
2006 Comisionado de Cultura Dominicano. New York.
2005 "Feria del Libro Dominicano". Comisionado Dominicano de Cultura. New York.
2004 "Art Show" New York Public Library.
2003 Angel Orensanz Foundation. New York.
2002 Theater for the New City Gallery. New York.
2000 Art on the Main Street Gallery. Westchester. 1998 "Personal", Museo Fra Angelico. Argentina. 1999 The International Center in New York.
1993 "Colectiva", Museo de Bellas Artes. Argentina.
1991 National Salon of Visual Art. Palais de Glace. Buenos Aires. Argentina.
1991 Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Rome. Italy
1991 "Arte Contemporaneo". Margutta Gallery. Rome, Italy.
1990 "Art Show", Palazzo Valentini. Rome, Italy.
1989 "Art Fair Teverexpo", Rome, Italy.
1989 "Mostra d'Arte" Forum Gallery, Rome, Italy.
PUBLICATIONS
Her work has been published in: "New York Times Guide for Immigrants to New York City"; Mud Season Review, Memoir Magazine; That Literary Review; 805 Lit+Art; ART511 MAG; Raven Chronicles; Silver Needle Press; Hayden’s Ferry Review, Empty Mirror and News NY1.
EDUCATION
2019. Creative Capital NYC Taller Program.
1992. Accademia Internazionale per L'Unita della Cultura. Rome Italy.
1990. Scuola Internazionale dell"Acquarello. Rome. Italy.
1987. MFA. National University of La Plata, Argentina.