* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Julia Haw was born in Flint, Michigan and now lives and works in Chicago, IL. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from Western Michigan University.
Julia explains her work by saying, “This small and ongoing group of paintings is based on the perpetual undercurrents of fear that reside in every human being. We are often afraid to be alone. Afraid to commit. Afraid to leave a marriage. Afraid to try. Closely intertwined with that fear is the occurrence of vulnerability. Vulnerability is an unwanted trait in a society filled with high respect for independence. When we express our fears, it can be viewed as a sign of weakness, but those fears tell a story of our past, and of the connections we have with others. For this current series, I am talking with people about their fears, while photographing them for frames of reference for the paintings. It is at times an uncomfortable topic of discussion due to many emotional ties that have created one’s unique anxieties and phobias. Fears spring forth from fountains of insecurities, bad relationships, and the pain caused by certain life experiences. These recesses in our psyches should and need to be explored in order to move through them and past them. I am exploring them with my subjects, and though it can be a painful exploration there is something beautiful about really paying attention to and giving credence to our underlying discomposures.”
