Julian
Harris

    CCA MFA 2021

    Conceptual Emotion Series

    (do) black lives matter!?

    covid-19 embrace

    double trapped

    mirroring emphasis

    Let us BREATHE series

    Artist Statement

    The truth is that the continual terror I live with started from birth and onward. It started at home. This terror of racism. I have experienced it from every angle that you could imagine and in every place that I have visited or lived on this diverse planet we call Earth. Not just from people outside of my ethnic group, but even from those within my own ethnic group. An absolute onslaught. The inevitable questions always come up. Where are you from? Who are you? Why do you look like that? Then I answer them, to which they reply that’s not true. This line of questioning always leads me to think, then why did you ask me? What does it matter? I am a human being! Judge me on the content of my character and not the color of my skin, as Martin Luther King Jr. said. I don’t think I have ever felt comfortable anywhere, because of this constant need by other humans to define me by my appearance. The truly depressing part is that I have gotten so use to it that I expect it, like it is conventional. My “normal” reality. One that I have had to accept, but also desperately rail against despite the exhaustion and sheer toll it takes my own sense of self or identity. The works of art discussed in this thesis, hold a direct and metaphorical mirror up to the world and reflect how I feel and what I see. My point of view thrust harshly upon the world, in an uncensored traumatic way that forces the viewer to have a reckoning with my life long pain. You can’t look away! Deal with it! Confront it! Fix it! Stop it! You are destroying me! Let me be! I scream this within these works. The only question now is anyone listening or is it still falling on the deaf ears of the world at large? Until then the terror continues, as the work indicates.

    "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” Rami, from his poem A Great Wagon

    I am currently in pursuit of a MFA in Fine Arts at California College of the Arts in San Francisco, California. During my nearly two years at CCA, I was awarded the 2020-2021 The Leo and Florence Helzel Endowed Scholarship Fund in Honor of David Kirshman. As a result of this prestigious honor, I was featured in the CCA Scholarship Exhibition in January 2021. In addition, my work will also be featured in the 2021 CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts MFA Fine Arts Showcase, the 2021 CCA MFA Fine Arts Showcase, and the 2021 CCA Graduating Students Showcase. Finally, I am also working as a graduate teaching assistant, as part of the Graduate Teaching Assistantship Program here at CCA. I will graduate from this intensely rigorous two year masters program in early May 2021. I recently worked as a Kindergarten Teacher with Huijia Educational Organization in Beijing, China for one school year. I worked in two different schools across the Beijing metropolitan area. I primarily taught English, but I quickly took on all the duties that comes with being a Kindergarten Teacher. It was a rewarding experience. I have also spent extensive time and or lived in Chile, Ireland, Morocco, Spain, Cuba, and China. I also have completed two years of study in Allied Health with a concentration in the field of pharmacy technician at Houston Community College in Houston, Texas. I specifically graduated with an associate of applied science degree in Allied Health and an ASHP accredited certificate in pharmacy technician intravenous drug preparation. During my studies, I was able to work in three different types of pharmacies: Community, Hospital, and HomeCare. I enjoyed this healthcare career because the world of pharmacy is constantly changing, which allows me to grow and learn more in my field. In addition, I like that I have an active role in helping people. Finally, I have a bachelors degree in Photojournalism from Marlboro College in Marlboro, Vermont. I work freelance in this field and have been published several times, including Public Radio International's Living on Earth series, Houston Press, and Oz Magazine. My dream job is National Geographic. Photojournalism is my primary passion and I continue to pursue it part time, with the hope of it one day becoming full time.