Juliana Cerqueira Leite

Juliana Cerqueira Leite’s work engages the history of figurative art, re-formulating representation to reflect volition in form. Her practice explores notions of control over matter and the body’s physical translation of will and desire, investigating how form is produced through repeated intention. Primarily a sculptor Leite makes use of traditional sculptural processes and materials while breaking away from the historical visual syntax of figurative representation. Leite makes use of physically demanding activities such as digging, rolling, climbing, and falling, to resolve sculptural concerns, approaching these themes also through drawings, photography and video. Leite’s practice unites performance and sculpture to represent the physical mutability at the core of everyday being.

Juliana Cerqueira Leite (1981, Chicago, USA. Lives and works in New York, USA)

Selected solo exhibitions: The Swamp of Forever Chapter 4: Origin, curadoria de Carlos Fernandéz-Pello, Nogueras Blanchard, Madrid, Spain (2021); Convergence, Alma Zevi Gallery, Venice, Italy (2020); Orogenesis, National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy (2019); Until Different, Arsenal Contemporary, New York, USA (2018); Dividual, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo, Brazil (2018); BLOOM, T.J.Boulting, London, England (2017); Positional, Casa Triângulo, São Paulo, Brazil (2013).

Selected group exhibitions: Just Breathe..., curated by Felipe Hegg, The55Project, Miami, USA (2021); Por um sopro de fúria e esperança – Uma declaração de emergência climática, curated by Galciani Neves and Natalie Unterstell, Museu Brasileiro da Escultura e Ecologia, São Paulo, Brazil (2021); The Last Museum, curated by Nadim Samman, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany (2021); Sette Opere per la Misericordia, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples, Italy (2019); Sick & Desiring, with Zoë Claire Miller, Bergen Assembly 2019, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway (2019); Dear Amazon: The Anthropocene, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea (2019); The Female Gaze, Kunsthaus Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany (2018); In Practice: Another Echo, Sculpture Center, Long Island, USA (2018); 1st Antarctic Biennale, Antarctica (2017) e The Measure of Our Travelling Feet, Marres Contemporary Art Center, Maastricht, Netherlands (2017); and Casa Triângulo no Pivô, Pivô, São Paulo, Brasil (2014).

Awards: Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, USA; and Furla Art Prize for her contribution to the 5th Moscow International Young Art Biennial, Russia.