We recently connected with Julia Langer and have shared our conversation below.

Julia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents, from a very young age always told me that I was good, strong, and smart. They instilled in me a understanding that I am capable of doing the thing, and if I’m not capable right now, its important to ask for help to learn it. Further just as they instilled me a concept that its ‘ok’ to need help, its also important to be helpful in whatever capacity you have. This combination of feeling that I can figure anything out and openness to connect to others and ask for help, or guidance is really key to my current life as an artist. Knowing that you need to do everything that you can, take responsibility and above all try, while remembering that you are not an island imperative to the successful creation of a life as an artist (or in any profession really).

Julia, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a painter and circus performer from Maryland, but I am currently based in France. My work revolves around a questioning of norms and what it mean to be free.

I currently work with an art gallery (Galerie L’Etranger) selling my mixed media figurative art and helping organize the cultural events and general vivacity in the space. In my paintings I paint a background with large dance like movements, hoping to capture the freedom of the gestures. Than I meticulously sew figures into thee canvas. Mixing techniques and styles I have worked to combine an extremely free and fluid process of making abstract art with the concrete and time intensive depiction of the human form in thread on a canvas. An investigation into liberty and control and the harmony that can be found in each.

Additionally, I am a circus performer. After finishing a professional circus school with a specialization in aerial hoop and clowning I am currently working with two productions. The first titled “Au Bord de L’Adventure” is a clownesque tribute to freedom and the return of one of the most famous pirates in history… The other is an investigation of masculinity and femininity in a musical street performance concerning 2 matadors and a flamico dancer. This surrealist show uses the world around us to initiate a questioning of cultural norms.

What sets me apart from others, is my desire and ability to work across fields and disciplines. To me art is what happens. It provides a mirror to the world that reflects the emotions of anyone and everyone. Thus my potentially desperate seeming activities are really me attempting to interpret the world and reflect it back, with the hopes of some seeing themselves in it and feeling less alone.

In my first professional aerial performance in Baltimore, someone stopped me in the bathroom after the show to tell me that seeing me perform was the first time they saw someone ‘like them’ on stage in this capacity. They told me that this was a huge deal to them, because they realized that if someone without a classic ballet body, can be a performer and share their emotions on stage, maybe they can talk about who they are and what they want too the people around them. Sense then I have tried to express myself as I am in the hopes that it will give others the confidence and freedom to do the same.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Buy locally. When you need something, as much as possible buy from artists, crafters, people that you know, or that you know someone who knows someone. We know the expression to vote with your wallet, so by supporting local communities, people with skills they have spent years trying to hone you are participating in a creative (and more eco friendly!) ecosystem to make it thrive. I realize that often local products seem much more expensive than the mass produced version, but often they are better quality lasting longer, and come with the benefit of creating a community valuing what we can make with our hands. Giving our votes to a community instead of the megabillionaires.

The second thing to do to create a thriving creative ecosystem is to go to and help organize cultural events. Get out of the house, talk to people, listen to poetry, go see a play, stop and watch the local street performer and after tell them what you think of there show. Ask questions, be curious, and most of all participate.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

NFT’s seem like the opposite of real support for creatives. Particularly when it comes to selling visual art. You can make an original piece of art, photograph it, and sell the photograph as an NFT. Than take another photo of the same art piece and resell it as another NFT. This process devalues the concept of original art, and adds to the increased possibility of scams on the internet. Furthermore, NFT’s disconnect even further artists from the consumer. If we want to build thriving art communities, we need to see and interact with each other on a personal level. Not through 3rd party NFT venders that can sell a photo of your art to the other side of the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: julialanger.com
• Instagram: @julia.langer.art and @circus.julia

Image Credits
Circus Photos: Pauline Welsh