Júlia Pontés
Bio: Júlia Pontés is a Brazilian-Argentinian investigative artist, photographer, researcher, and activist. Pontés' work focuses mainly on extractivism and mining exploration in Brazil. Her practice entails deep community engagement, academic and investigative research and documentary practices.
Her mining aerial survey made in collaboration with a pilot has been recognized by Harvard University's Planetary Health Alliance, Visura and NYFA. It has been published by Bloomberg, Geo Magazine and several other media outlets. In 2020 she was awarded a National Geographic grant to document the effects of the pandemic in mining communities.
Her work is frequently displayed in collaboration with social movements, universities and independent exhibition spaces. It has been shown in the US, Argentina, Spain, Portugal, Germany and Brazil.
Júlia holds a specialization in Law and Economics from UTDT in Argentina, a certificate in photography from ICP and is currently an MFA candidate at Columbia University with expected graduation in May 2022.
Thesis Exhibition
Artist Statement: Mining activity is so deeply rooted in my native state that it is included in the name, and runs in the veins of its people, including my own. For over 50 years, my family's life has gravitated toward the steel industry, with my mother becoming the first woman to run a steel plant in my home state. Ironically, we suffer from a genetic disease that prevents the processing of iron from our bodies, which accumulates at excessive levels.
Separation from my homeland has allowed me to develop some distance, and a deeply critical view of the world I grew up in.
Since 2014 I have worked extensively conducting an inventory of mining companies and its tailings (waste) dams, and witnessed the absolute devastation to their surrounding communities and environment. I developed a visceral relationship with the land, becoming one with it; each open pit feels like a wound in my own body.
In my work, which I call, investigative art, I merge investigative journalism techniques, my background in law and economics with academic research and my art practice to shine a light on these poignant issues.
Endless Bridge (32" x 40" x 1.5", Oil on canvas, 2022)
First Year Exhibition
Mineral Veins (20:01 min, HD video with sound, 2021)
