AWARDS and RESIDENCIES
2023 School of Visual Arts, Art Residency. New York
2023, 2022 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. 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, selected by Frank Buffalo Hyde. Tubac Center of the Arts. Az.
2018. Art Residency. Trestle Gallery.
2017. Certificate of Recognition by Laura Phipps, Curator The Whitney Museum of American Art.
2005. Comisionado de Cultura en Nueva York. Certificate of Recognition.
2005. Award of Merit. Museo de Arte Latinoamericano (MACLA)
2005. Luigi Prete Foundation Award. Rome.
2005. Provincial Museum of Art. Buenos Aires Award. Argentina.
2004. "Le Muse" Award. Florence. Italy.
2003. Provincial Tourism Department Award. Rome. Italy.
2003. Municipality of Affile Award. Italy.
2002. Certificate of Recognition Burckhart Akademie, exhibition "La Marina del Lazio". Rome. Italy.
2001. "Sculpture, Graphic and Design" Award. Rome. Italy.
2000. "Rome During The Renaissance" Award. Rome. Italy.
2000. Barberini Palace Award. Rome . Italy.
1999. Department of Cultural Affairs Award. Rome. Italy.
BIO:
Julia Justo is an interdisciplinary artist born in Argentina of Indigenous and Italian ancestry, and currently based in New York.
She earned an MFA with a concentration in Painting from the National University of Argentina.
She has exhibited extensively in the US and internationally, including at the Asheville Art Museum, Hunterdon Art Museum, Smack Mellon, Bric Media, WhiteBox, the American Folk Art Museum and the Museo de Buenos Aires.
She has received numerous grants, awards and residencies, including a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation grant, three LMCC grants, a Su-Casa Artist-in-Residence grant, a Trestle Gallery residency, an SVA Art Residency, a Creative Capital Taller artist selection, and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant, among others.
Her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, News NY1 and Memoir Magazine among others.
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I explore themes of cultural identity, belonging, and social justice through mixed media, textiles, and community-based projects.
Using strategies drawn from the fields of education, research and community activism, I invite participation and collective imagining.
Description of my most recent work:
My recent series, Domestic Workers and Street Vendors, is a textile-based project that explores labor, migration, and memory through embroidered portraits of immigrant workers.
I invite my subjects to share photographs of themselves in their workplaces, which become the basis for my embroidered works. Community members are not simply subjects of the project; they are co-creators who actively shape its direction and meaning.
Due to their legal status, many participants chose not to reveal their identities. Embroidery allows me to honor their contributions while simultaneously concealing and protecting their identities.
Embroidery enables me to incorporate the concept of repetition—an element associated with manual labor— addressing issues of visibility surrounding immigrant labor in the United States.
My work embraces a vibrant use of color that pays homage to my Latin American heritage, combining traditional techniques with contemporary themes. Through the incorporation of Indigenous motifs and patterns, I seek to bridge past and present while while exploring new approaches to contemporary Indigenous art.
In a time marked by exclusion and displacement, my work seeks to bring attention to histories at risk of erasure while envisioning a more tolerant, connected, and interdependent future.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS: 2025. “The Truth As I See It”, curated by Zachary Frater. Flushing Town Hall. NY 2025. “Free, Fearless, Fantastical”. Pen + Brush gallery. Curated by Bina Sarkar Ellias. NY 2024. “Home is You, Right Now”, Ruby/Dakota Gallery, curated by Hannah Studnick. NY 2024 “Invisible Bodies”, curated by The Border Gallery and Emireth Herrera Valdes. Penn State University, HUB-Robeson Galleries. 2023. “Fish Tank” exhibition. School of Visual Arts. NY 2023. “Pandemic Journals”. National Women’s History Museum. Virginia. 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", Boricua 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 Media, 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.
2003 Theater for the New City Gallery. New York.
2003 Art on the Main Street Gallery. Westchester. 2003 The International Center in New York. 1998. Museo Provincial de La Plata. Argentina. 2003 "Personal", Museo Fra Angelico. Argentina.
2003 "Colectiva", Museo de Bellas Artes. Argentina.
2001 National Salon of Visual Art. Palais de Glace. Buenos Aires. Argentina.
2000 Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Rome. Italy
2000 "Arte Contemporaneo". Margutta Gallery. Rome, Italy.
2000 "Art Show", Palazzo Valentini. Rome, Italy.
1999 "Art Fair Teverexpo", Rome, Italy.
1999 "Mostra d'Arte" Forum Gallery, Rome, Italy.
PUBLICATIONS
Her work has been published in: SVA publication; "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 2023. School of Visual Arts. 2019. Creative Capital NYC Taller Program.
1982. Accademia Internazionale per L'Unita della Cultura. Rome Italy.
2000 Scuola Internazionale dell"Acquarello. Rome. Italy.
1997. MFA. National University of La Plata, Argentina.