The Portfolio Review Series Online:
Julia Zurilla belongs to a generation of Venezuelan artists from the late 90s who resort to technology and interdisciplinary methodologies in their work. Her video and mixed media pieces combine experimental image with written or spoken text to create semi-abstract, existential stories.
Zurilla holds a BFA and an MFA from the Institute of Higher Fine Arts Studies Armando Reverón. She is a graduate of Fashion Design from the Institute of Design Las Mercedes, Caracas, Venezuela.
Since 1997, she has participated in numerous exhibitions in museums and galleries in USA, Spain, France, Colombia, Hungary, and Venezuela. Among her awards and recognitions are: ExxonMobil Exhibition Prize, National Art Gallery Caracas (2003), the 26th National Art Contest Prize, Museum of Contemporary Art Maracay (2001) and 63rd Biennial Salón Arturo Michelena Award (2001).
Her work is represented in major public and private collections including: Mercantil Bank Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art Mario Abreu, Maracay, Venezuela; Ateneo of Valencia, Venezuela; National Art Gallery, Venezuela; ExxonMobil Art Collection; and Luciano Benetton Collection. Zurilla has been living and working in Miami since 2017.
My work is about absence and loss. I focus on distant memories that have only remained in fragments or traces. I select that, which survived events, time, and the caducity of the world. I am interested in the memory of what has been forgotten. The final product is a remembrance; a moment of enlightenment where re-assembling fragmentary and disperse testimonials gives birth to new meanings. – Julia Zurilla
