Julia Beliaeva

Julia Beliaeva (b. 1988) uses the latest technologies in 3D modeling and VR to produce works across video, photography and sculpture. Beliaeva’s work often explores the nature of porcelain as a metaphor for humanity, simultaneously strong and deeply fragile under the surface. Her practice includes both large scale porcelain sculptures, like those shown in her recent solo museum show Fragile City in Austria, and video works featuring digital porcelain figures frozen in time.

The exhibition features Beliaeva’s Shield, the first exhibited work from a new series by the artist of 3D rendered sculptures printed on dibond aluminium, toeing the line between sculpture and photography. The work features the shield of Kyiv’s Mother Ukraine, the gargantuan 335-foot tall public sculpture located in the heart of the city. On July 29, 2023, the statue’s historic soviet symbols were removed, leaving a grid of unfilled space which Beliaeva recreates exactly in Shield. The work explores the decommunisation of Ukraine and its decoupling from Russia, also representing the pixelated camouflage worn by Ukrainian soldiers. In early August, the empty grid was filled by a tryzub, the country’s national trident symbol.

Beliaeva has exhibited across Ukraine and Europe, including in recent solo shows at OK Linz in Austria and KWADRAT Berlin.