Julia Fennell’s work is an intimate exploration of memory, love, and self-connection, using self-portraiture as a means of deep introspection. Through richly layered oil paintings, she transforms personal experiences into visual narratives that bridge the past and present.
Origin: Connecticut, USA
Currently Exhibiting in: New York City
Website: Julia Fennell
Social Media: Instagram: @juliafennellart
Bio
Julia Fennell is a painter whose work delves into themes of intimacy, transformation, and emotional resilience. A graduate of the University of Chicago with a degree in visual arts, she has been pursuing a full-time art career in Connecticut since 2024. Fennell’s paintings have been featured in numerous exhibitions, including ARACHNIDAE at the David and Reva Logan Center for the Arts, Art of Memory at Brain Bridge Lab, and Provocations at Hinds Geosciences Laboratory, all in Chicago. Her work has also appeared in publications, including the cover of Door is a Jar magazine’s Summer 2024 issue.
Fennell’s self-portraiture is a practice of deep personal inquiry, allowing her to hold space for different versions of herself across time. Her work, which often features surreal and hyperreal elements, reflects her belief that art is an act of relational devotion—an invitation to sit with one’s experiences, accept them, and transform them into something luminous.
Her paintings are slow, meditative processes, mirroring the careful emotional work that defines her art. Using techniques such as imprimatura in permanent Alizarin crimson and delicate glazes, Fennell creates luminous compositions that exude warmth and intimacy. Her work has earned recognition as a finalist in multiple competitions, including Aedra Fine Arts, Art Collide, and the Yosemite Sierra Artists Self-Portrait competition. In 2025, she was nominated for Best of the Net, and she won 3rd place in Teravarna’s 8th Color competition for her painting To Be Loved Is to Be Known.
At its core, Fennell’s work is about hope—about choosing love, connection, and beauty even in the face of uncertainty. She believes in seeing the world not as it is, but as it could be, and her paintings reflect that unwavering faith in the possibility of transformation.
Featured Artwork at Bushwick Gallery
Self-Portrait of Salvation in Chicago
- Year of Creation: 2025
- Medium: Oil on Canvas
- Dimensions: 30” x 30”
- Price: $3,800
- Description: Inspired by a horoscope that read, “Your salvation is your responsibility,” this piece explores the tension between vulnerability and empowerment. The daisies, which reference a folktale about flowers growing over the earth after loss, are reinterpreted as symbols of rebirth. Through vibrant color and delicate light, the painting turns pain into joy, despair into renewal.
Exhibition Information
March 2025: “Metamorphosis: Transformations in Art”
Curated by: Paridhi Chawla
Theme: Exploring transformation, change, and evolution through artistic expression.
Exhibition Dates: March 6 – March 13, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 6 | 6 PM – 8 PM
Guided audio experience
For accessibility, the full video transcript is provided below for those who prefer to read or are unable to listen.
“Julia Fennell’s work is a conversation between past and present, a quiet act of reclamation through paint. In Self-Portrait of Salvation in Chicago, she transforms personal reflection into a luminous meditation on resilience. Inspired by a horoscope that read, “Your salvation is your responsibility,” the painting grapples with the delicate tension between vulnerability and self-determination.
The composition is steeped in warmth, each brushstroke a gesture of care. Layers of oil glazes build a depth that feels almost tangible, as if the figure exists in a space between memory and becoming. Daisies bloom across the canvas—soft, unassuming symbols of rebirth. In folklore, flowers grow where grief has been laid to rest; here, they do not mourn, but celebrate the quiet promise of renewal.
Fennell’s work is both deeply intimate and universally resonant. Self-Portrait of Salvation in Chicago does not erase sorrow, but instead reimagines it—turning pain into light, longing into transformation. The painting does not ask what has been lost, but instead reminds us of what can still bloom.”