Julia Thompson (b. 1996, Canada) is a London based artist, completing her Master of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London (2022). Thompson’s work explores what she calls a "memory disease". In nature, rings and layers help us date things precisely. But Thompson’s work resists such realism. As she says, “nostalgia tells it like it wasn’t.” Her past is sensual, romantic, and unreachable — shimmering with eyeshadow, smelling of perfume and lipstick, tasting of vodka and sweets. It's overloaded with sensory memory. The past crowds into the present, overwhelming the space it enters. This overflow creates a sense of discomfort — a lingering, sickly feeling left behind by what is now obsolete, decaying, and desperate to be laid to rest.
Solo exhibitions include; ‘Valley of the Dolls’, Dries Van Note, Los Angeles (2024); ‘Soft furnishings’, Incubator, London (2023); FUTURE PERFECT, New York (2022); ‘No Archive Will Restore You’, G-Son Studios, Los Angeles (2022); ‘Leftovers’, Lyles & King, New York (2021). Group exhibitions include; ‘BOND’, Dries Van Noten Gallery, Los Angeles (2023); ‘Moonflower’, EUROPA, New York (2022); ‘INDUSTRIALISM’, SIZED, New York (2022); ‘Patricia Reading’, Murmurs, Los Angeles (2021).