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Bio
Julia Orquera Bianco was born in Argentina and lived in Mexico before moving to the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Universidad del Museo Social Argentino (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in 2012. In 2018 she graduated from the MFA program at Roski School of Art and Design, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. In 2020, Bianco earned a Certificate on Sustainability from University of California, Los Angeles. In 2022, Bianco was an intern in the Medicinal Plant Conservation Program at United Plant Savers (Rutland, OH). In 2023, she earned a Certificate in Permaculture Design from Cincinnati Permaculture Institute.
Bianco works through interrogating constructs from Modern Western Culture, collective memory, and the experience of migration, through the lens of a guest on the Land she is at any given point. This allows her to think about identity as constantly being in motion and deeply affected by her entanglement with the Environment. Her recent work draws from her family legacy and cultural heritage, and her work with Medicinal plants from the Southern and Northern hemispheres, to craft stories where past, present, and place come together, redefining notions of belonging. Her work has been showcased and published in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, and the United States.
Statement
As a mestiza from South America, a big part of my time is spent learning directly and indirectly from Indigenous cultures I am close to, and integrating their ancestral wisdom into my life in a syncretic way. Working with the Plants for many years and engaging with alternative medicine has deeply informed my artist practice. I believe that the space where science and the Sacred meet is the space where I can create an existence and work that is life-affirming and that assents to all aspects of being, broadening the limits of possibility and harmonizing my individual existence with the existence of The Earth.
“Espíritu de la Vida” is an installation made out of sheets that I used during consecutive Ayahuasca ceremonies I sat in during December 2024. The sheets were printed with cyanotype technique in my hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The visual representations that are embroidered depict both plants from Buenos Aires as well as Master Plants I took regularly as part of my month-long Dieta. The Dieta is a traditional Shipibo practice, where a person carves out time to commune with Nature and learn from the Plants. This practice is considered essential and requires a high level of commitment, humility, and self discipline. The experience of the Dieta was profoundly transformational for me; born from that time is “Espíritu de la Vida”. The prayer that is embroidered in this installation translates into: “Spirit of Life, Help us”.
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