Rising Stars: Meet Julia SH of Los Angeles

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia SH.

Hi Julia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Sweden in the 80s. One of my earliest memories is being pulled out of a sandbox and told I couldn’t have blueberries because of the Chernobyl fallout. I grew up an anxious kid, a bit of a hypochondriac, and I never really knew why. What photography gave me was a reason to look outward instead of inward. A camera meant I had permission to really look at someone, and them at me, without it being strange. I suppose you could say I got to be a tourist in my own life. I undertook my BA and MA in Fine Art in London at Central Saint Martins and the Slade School of Fine Art respectively, but I was working primarily in film and video then. It wasn’t until 2012 that I came back to stills, because I had moved to LA pretty recently and felt a yearning to find a connection to the city and its people.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Actually creating the work has never been difficult for me. It’s more the cultural landscape that can be a struggle, at least for the fine art side of what I do. It’s been so widely discussed and dissected that, ironically, I now sense a kind of conservatism that wasn’t as prevalent even a few years ago. There’s this expectation that art has obligations, that it needs to take a stance or come with a label attached. I don’t believe that, and I deliberately don’t engage with it, not because I don’t have thoughts on it, but because I think it’s dangerous territory. Art should be allowed to stay sacred. The more unresolved a piece is to me, the more interesting I find it. I don’t have things figured out, so why should my art? I change constantly, and so does my work. When it comes to my portraiture specifically, I think the real challenge right now is the devaluation of labor because of AI. It’s a real thing, and it can be a good tool for certain people and certain purposes, but I have no interest in it as an artist. My practice is connection based, and the result is a documentation of a process, and that process is exactly what gets lost with AI. You have to be like clay, working around these new constraints, because they’re here to stay in some form.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I work primarily as a photographer, but I’ve also been producing film, and I’ve developed a ceramics practice, which has become a place for more sculptural and even humorous ideas that don’t always fit into a photograph. I like to refer to it as a space where I can further explore my inner idiot. Across all of it, what I specialize in is finding vulnerability in myself and others and turning it into a superpower, because I think that’s how we connect best.

The work people know me for the most is probably the series Fresh Meat, which I created with Nic Sadler and Satya Linak, and my fine art work, which has exhibited worldwide with Fotografiska. I’m most proud of the feeling I’m able to evoke in people, whether they’re in my photos or just encountering them, and the personal connections that come from that. I love hearing stories that are vastly different from mine but still carry the same essence of what we all want.

As for people who’ve wanted to reach out to work with me, the best advice I give every client is the same: don’t wait for the right day, the right weight, the right moment. There isn’t one. There’s just now, and now is the perfect time. I work in a way that’s relaxed, playful, and completely without expectation, with all ages, experience levels, body types, and genders. I truly believe that having someone reflect your image back to you can unlock what’s been stuck. The images we make together open doors, not just for your career, but into who you are.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
It’s still a mystery to me but it may just have to do with the fact that I’m too sleepy to attend any event that starts past 8pm.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.juliash.com
• Instagram: @juliashoots
• Other: https://www.juliashoots.com