Julia Wimmerlin is a Ukrainian-born Swiss-based photographer and visual artist. After leaving her native Kyiv, she resided and worked in various countries across Europe and Asia. Armed with degrees in Economics and Marketing, she pursued an international marketing career until 2014 when she transitioned to travel photography. Julia is primarily self-taught, drawing upon her background in advertising to create clear impactful visual stories.
The early 2020-s upheavals profoundly impacted her, leading to a metamorphosis in her photographic approach. Julia weathered seismic shifts in her artistic journey from travel to contemporary mixed media. Embracing contemporary fine art photography, she embarked on in-depth research projects, seeking to understand the evolving world around her and her role within it. Striving for deeper subject representation, Julia committed to a private long-term art education program.
These upheavals also left their mark on the aesthetics of Julia's works, evolving vibrant concrete imagery into symbolic representations bordering on the dreamlike. Embracing the concept of postmodernism, Julia explores the endless citation and reinterpretation of "grand narratives". Her subjects, ranging from travel and animals to studio work, now manifest as mystical visions. Blurring the boundaries of reality, the interplay of colours and lines in her photographs creates semi-abstract, feminine, and elusive, surrealistic compositions brimming with emotion. Each photograph serves as a portal into the subconscious, where myths and realities intertwine. Much like dreams encapsulate our daily concerns, future fears, and past memories, Julia's works possess simultaneously retrospective, contemporary and futuristic qualities. They capture moments of clarity within the abstract, only to morph into elusive forms that challenge recognition. Her photographs embody the paradoxical essence of dreams—vivid yet ephemeral, logical yet surreal. Despite photographing diverse subjects, Julia's work remains cohesive.
Julia’s photographs have been published in various prestigious publications including New York Times, National Geographic, GEO, The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, Forbes and Le Figaro, amongst others. Her works have been exposed in Canada, Finland, France, Great Britain, Hungary, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Switzerland and USA. She was awarded the title “Photographer of the Year” at the Moscow International Photo Awards and has achieved winning placements in competitions such as the International Photo Awards, Tokyo International Photo Awards, Prix de la Photographie Paris, amongst others. Additionally, she has been shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards.
EXHIBITIONS
2024
Group Exhibition "Contemporary Ukrainian Photography 2.0", NU ART Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
Group Exhibition "100 Women", Ins Blaue Art Gallery, Remscheid, Germany
Group Exhibition "Les Rencontres de la Photographie Marrakech", Marrakech, Morocco
Group Exhibition Swiss Art Week, Galerie Calabrò, Zurich, Switzerland
Group Exhibition "You're Innocent in Your Dreams", ZERO Art Space, Tokyo, Japan
Group Exhibition "Contemporary Ukrainian Photography", V'yava VDNG, Kyiv, Ukraine
Group Exhibition "Restart", Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius, Lithuania
Group Exhibition "Le Langage des Images", Festival OFF Arles, Arles, France
Group Exhibition "Contemporary Ukrainian Photography", NU ART Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
Solo exhibition of "UNCORNERED" series, Stadtbibliotek city library, Luzern, Switzerland2023
Solo exhibition during the "We love Ukraine" festival, series "UNCORNERED", Nidau, Switzerland
Helsinki Photo Festival 2023 - Courage, series "UNCORNERED", Helsinki, Finland
Solo exhibition of "UNCORNERED" series, Kornhaus city library and Folks Hoch Schule, Bern, Switzerland
Rotterdam Photo - Exhibition 2023 - Freedom Redefined, series "UNCORNERED", Rotterdam, Netherlands
ImageNation Paris Exhibition, Soho Photo Gallery, New York, USA
2022
Tokyo International Foto Awards Winners' Exhibition, Shibuya Center, Tokyo, Japan and House of Lucie, Budapest, Hungary
ImageNation Paris Exhibition, Galerie Joseph Le Palais, Paris, France
2021
Feature Shoot's “Global Billboard Project” winner, work exhibited on a billboard in Manhattan’s 9th Avenue, New York, USA
International Photography Festival of Atout Sud “Regards de femmes », Rezé, France
2020 - Contact Photography Festival, Broken Reality, Toronto, Canada
2019 - Contact Photography Festival, What Lies Beneath, Toronto, Canada
2018 - Tokyo Midtown Design Touch , « Breathing life into things » exposition Mazda-Vogue, Tokyo, Japan
2017 - International Photography Festival Pil’Ours, Pays de Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, France
AWARDS
2024
Fresh Eyes Talent ’24 Haute Photographie
3d place winner, Cortona On The Move, "Stolen Language" series
Winner Les Rencontres de la Photographie Marrakech, "Reverie" series
Longlist artist for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2024, Photography, "Stolen Language" series
2023
Tokyo International Photo Awards, Silver, Professional People/Family, series "LOVE. My family" -
ND Awards, Silver, Professional, Fine Art/Nude, series "Transcending Familiarity"
Prix de la Photographie Paris, Gold, Professional, Fine Art/Nude, series "Transcending Familiarity"; Bronze, Professional, Portraiture/Family, series "LOVE. My family"
The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts: 2d place Conceptual, photo "Birth"; 2d place Nature, photo "Connection"; 3d place People, photo "Layers and Meanings"
2022
Moscow International Photo Awards, Photographer of the Year, series "Fresco"
Siena International Photo Awards, Remarkable Artwork, Journeys and Adventures, photo "Glassfish"
2021
Tokyo International Photo Awards, 1st Place, Fine Art, series "Fresco"
Tokyo International Photo Awards, Gold, Nude/Jury's Top 5 Selection, series "Fresco"
2020
Sony World Photography Awards, Shortlist, Natural World and Wildlife, Open competition, photo "Connection"
2019
Trierenberg Super Circuit, Silver, Experimental photography, photo "Joy of Rain"
2018
International Photography Awards, 1st place, One Shot: Harmony, Enhanced, photo "Internal conversation"
Prix de la Photographie Paris, Silver, Portraiture/Self-Portrait, series "I don't cook, but who cares?"
2017
Prix de la Photographie Paris, Gold, Portraiture/Other, photo "Earth or Mars?"
Trierenberg Super Circuit, Gold, Self-Portrait, photo "Redhead"
ART BOOKS
Fresh Eyes Talent, Haute Photographie, 2024
"100 Contemporary Ukrainian Photographers", FORM. Paris, 2024
"Celebrity Ascent' Artbook, Peter Millard & Partners Ltd, 2023
