Your name
Julia Albrecht
Place of birth
Offenbach am Main, Germany
Place where you live now
Berlin
3 words to describe you
Observer - Overthinker - Perfectionist
Why do you take pictures?
When I started to study Media Art and Design, I always thought I was a photographer because it was the only thing I was good at. Now, after studying photography, I don't see myself as a photographer anymore. More as a lens-based and conceptual artist.
Where do you get your inspiration?
My artistic work process explores the connection between sociological and psychological research and is concerned with personal experience. It constantly draws from a deep curiosity for humanitarian issues and cultural phenomena, with the work touching on the realms of paradox in life.
Who are your influences?
I grew up on my father's car lot surrounded by welding and puddles of motor oil. In contrast, there was the riding school with my mother's horse with a completely different form of cleanliness and perfection. It took me a long time to understand and harmonize these two influences and draw my own language from them.
What determines the subject matter you choose?
A sense of empathy for the issue.
What impact would you like your art to have?
Society needs art as an insight, which can be powerful and helpful in our daily lives, helping us to question the absolute. Today I am more than ever convinced that art can illustrate groundbreaking approaches for a better society, and I see it as my goal to pass on my knowledge to others and make it more accessible through art.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
I admire it if artistic processes are used to understand and articulate the subjectivity of human experience — art that is so complete that it can only come from the deepest place inside and it touches the soul. The role of the artistic researcher is not to describe or interpret their work but rather to identify and map the various nuances that make up the artwork in a way that is not necessarily open to others.
Is there anything you want to add?
I consider photography as a discourse that encompasses multiple practices. Likewise, the boundary between the still and moving images is fluid and porous, allowing new forms of image-making.
