Julia Staples has exhibited her work locally and internationally. She was the recipient of the William J. Fulbright Fellowship, The American Scandinavian Foundation Fellowship both to pursue projects in Iceland; in 2002 she received the Adobe Design Achievement Award, in addition she has received grants from the Nordic Cultural Council to travel around Scandinavia and the Balkans; most recently she was selected to create a public artwork for The Free Library of Philadelphia and this summer she was awarded a travel grant to attend Ox-Bow summer residency in 2014. Today we take a look at her series titled, Manual of Personal Mythologies.
Manual of Personal Mythologies
Central to my work is an exploration of the origins of fantasy and desire. Profiting from the purported realism that photography offers, I examine the ways fantasy and desire ultimately rely on the association of truth with visual reality—while revealing the narrow boundaries between the visible and the fantastic. From commercial to underground, from symbols and language, I seek to create images and work that will serve to uncover a hitherto hidden history of our collective fantasies.
Currently Staples is an adjunct professor of photography at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design. She has taught at Tyler School of Art and Temple University and given lectures at Moore College of Art, Reykjavik Art Academy and the Nordic House in Iceland. Staples received an MFA from Tyler School of Art in 2012.
To view more of Julia’s work please her website.