Winona Julian (she/her) is a queer, femme media/video artist residing in Mokhkinstsís (Calgary, AB). She completed her BFA with distinction at Alberta University of the Arts (2020) with a major in Media Arts and a minor in Animation. In 2022, she was the lead organizer of the Particle & Wave Festival, an annual media arts festival held by EMMEDIA which consists of exhibitions, screenings and an audiovisual performance by local, national and international media artists at multiple art venues around Calgary, Alberta. In 2024, Winona was a part of The Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA)'s interConnect program which brings together artists, arts professionals, and organizations to share knowledge about digital projects and practices. Currently, she works at The New Gallery as their Communications, Community Outreach and Digital Programming Coordinator where she facilitates workshops, events and TNG's online exhibition space, "Mainframe".
In her personal artistic practice she explores the routines of normalcies within new media, which once examined in detail, tend to be strange and alienating. Within this context she delves into ideas surrounding mental health and coping mechanisms where an understanding of new media is innate. She focuses on the pressures of the unpredictable future and the haunting consequences of the past through the repurposing of cultural themes and ideology. Her use of humour parallels those disseminated online through new media and streaming services in order to tap into the collective subconscious of a digital generation. The result is an image-based critical self-awareness, that confronts, interrogates, and explores with the audience these expressive and enigmatic new cultural artifacts. The result of this research manifests as a mixture of performance and video work that is unsettling, bizarre and self aware.
Recently, she’s been experimenting with new materials - taxidermy and forms of preservation. These new sculptural works examine grief, existentialism, and the value of life. The space she holds for these small animals translates into space she holds for herself and others in her communities.
winonaj3903@gmail.com