Julia Mayorova

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

Artist statement

My work usually starts with a form or a system that already comes with expectations: fashion photography, advertising, performance, comedy. My approach is to respect it and keep it recognizable, but quietly put something disruptive inside it that does not quite belong there, and then see what happens. I am particularly interested in the moment when something carefully constructed stops behaving as planned. Sometimes it is a person forgetting to perform, sometimes it is an audience making a decision I cannot control. And sometimes I create the conditions for something real to happen without my further interference. This is where my photography starts to blend with my practice as a performance artist. When that happens, I feel closest to the person in front of me, and hope the viewer can feel that connection and recognition too. I work across photography, film, performance and sometimes comedy because each gives me a different container to push against. What I keep looking for is the same thing: something real and unexpected appearing inside a form that was built to control it.

Artwork