Fiction and its layered construction is the basis of my work which takes the form of public artwork, social practice, films, performances, installations, interactive situations and events, comics, books, tapestries, and paintings. These networked narrative artworks are devised and co-created across mediums, platforms and cultures. The audience interacts and at times co-creates with the work on several levels—literal, symbolic, visual, engaging the seven senses, sometimes simultaneously, and at times sequentially.
Referencing not only the contemporary context but also artistic predecessors, these projects engage with archetypal elements, a historical past and a speculative future. Touching upon social-cultural issues such as the plight of the imprisoned, immigrant, loss and the construction of both conflict and memory—these works embrace the emotional, inner and systemic conflicts that pervade our lives.
As a Director, Writer, and Co-Creator, the foundation and continued exploration of my work is the co-creation of interactive trans-media fiction narratives that strive to be at the same time, total art works (Gesamtkunstwerks). Transmedia narrative art traverses mediums within an interactive landscape of production, while the total work of art includes all of the arts in one form. These oeuvres come from a spiritual quest within a social-political polemic. We all live in systems, and these systems undermine or uplift our equity. At the same time, ‘the personal is political,’ and the ghosts of our pasts are still living with us. The future like the past is beyond our reach, and therefore always a fiction.
Within the construction of projects, being conscious of accessibility, diversity and inclusion issues is foremost. Collaboration and collective action is an act of humility. It is an act of recognizing the strengths of others and the space for growth in oneself. Healing and justice is both an inner psychological and societal project. The team is searching, learning, and understanding as they go, while inviting the reader/participant/viewer in on this journey to engage with justice from their personal expertise that comes from their life.
An innovative art educator teaching at post-graduate, university, secondary and elementary levels since 2008 with experience ranging from private schools, universities and art schools to public libraries, museums and prisons. I have lectured and taught at art schools and universities including MassArt, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Oklahoma, University of Colorado, School of Visual Arts (NYC), Maryland Institute College of Art, George Mason University, Center for Cartoon Studies and the VU in Amsterdam. In this vein I have presented artistic research at 15 international conferences.
An adept organizer and community-maker, I co-founded the World Media Literacy Forum and Conference and have created events and projects in France, Sweden, the Netherlands and the USA including cross-cultural theater/film productions, multi-media events in various locations; online, in museums, municipal and alternative spaces.
With a background in performance art based in symbolic actions and visuals, my team creates bespoke rituals for life passage events. More information can be found under services.
Juliacks has received post-MFA fellowships from De Ateliers (2016) and Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts de Lyon (2012), a Fulbright Fellowship to the Theater Academy of Helsinki for Performance Art (2010), as well as guest artist fellowships and scholarships from the Royal Art Institute in Stockholm in Printmaking (2011) and Stonybrook Southampton’s Digital Filmmaking Summer Master Class (2013).
Her public artworks have been shown internationally at sites such as the Huygens Institute for Dutch History in Amsterdam and Newark Penn Station. Films and performances have been shown at museums such as MOMA PS1, the Moderna museum in Stockholm, Musee d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Centre d’Art Contemporain de Geneve, Kiasma Museum in Helsinki, and at festivals such as Other Futures in Amsterdam, and the Toronto Comics Arts Festival in Canada. Her comics, narratives and books have been published by 2dcloud, De Nieuwe Vide, Lumpen Magazine, the Washington Square Review, Kutikuti among others.