Alumni Julia Gat wins Steenbergen Stipendium Public Award 2021

My name is Julia Gat, I was born in Israel and am currently based between Rotterdam and Marseille, France. I studied Arts & Humanities at the Open University of the UK before transferring to WdKA, where I went on exchange at the School of Visual Arts in NYC.
I make photography and video work at the crossroads of documentary and portraiture, where I explore human interaction in its purest form. In addition to that, I work on commissions in the fields of fashion, dance and music.

What is your latest project 'khamsa khamsa khamsa' about?
Khamsa khamsa khamsa documents the first chapter of a growing, autobiographical archive. Through photography and film from the past 15 years, this project follows my earliest developments as an image-maker, using visual expression as a personal means to connect and explore notions of freedom and intimacy. When I was 10 years old, I promised myself to never forget what it feels like to look at the world from a child’s perspective: everything is new, imagination blends with reality and the unknown is exciting. Keeping this viewpoint alive in my work has become a motive for documenting my surroundings. it became a study of characters, relationships and group dynamics formed throughout childhood; focusing on my family’s daily banalities in the most intimate of contexts — home.

With this collection of personal narratives, I am archiving to reimagine. Growing up in the open context of alternative education initiated a conscious desire to engage in dialogue about the complex, multi-layered topic of tomorrow’s schooling. Since the pandemic, an unprecedented number of parents homeschool their children; a shift that may have lasting effects on both state schools and the homeschooling movement. In contrast, Emmanuel Macron announced last year a plan to strictly limit home education in France, which has given rise to considerable opposition. showcasing my own experience and looking at how we perceive learning lends additional depth to a visualisation of the future of education. Conventionally, these coming of age narratives are recorded by a parent or a grown-up, but here it is the ‘grown-up’ who used to be that child, striving to embrace those in-between moments; the cornerstones of becoming who i am today. Khamsa khamsa khamsa researches how documented my own upbringing, family and home can help with reimagining ways of learning and growing up with a sense of freedom.

How do you feel about winning the Steenbergen Stipendium Public Award?
Before the Steenbergen Stipendium, this project won the ISEM Young Photographer Award (2020) and the Vichy Portrait Festival Award (2016) in France. However, winning the Steenbergen Stipendium Public Award feels different, because this time, it is the public’s choice. Seeing how so many people connected to the project, engaged with it in relation to their own life stories and felt something deep because of it — is the greatest feeling of all. An overwhelming sense of gratitude.

Studying at WdKA was first of all an intuitive choice, based on my love for the city and its people. But the school's way of working quickly grew on me and I felt inspired working at WdKA. The study helped me surround myself with a quality group of creative makers, but also to find space for and prioritise my personal projects. This still helps me in my practice today.

Right now, I'm working on my first photo book to be published by French publishing house Actes Sud, to be released in June 2022. A great deal of exciting exhibitions are being planned for the coming year as well, so stay tuned!