About

Zully Mejía (b.1997 Piura, Peru) creates artworks that engage with the themes of immigration, womanhood and being a person of colour. She is interested in depicting neglected visual narratives and investigating the role portraiture plays in shifting representation and redefining identity. Mejía’s work is grounded in the aim to challenge identity stereotypes and evoke a sense of recognition. As a Peruvian immigrant, her practice is often autobiographical, and her creative process acts as a means to assimilate, structure and integrate experiences. She gives careful deliberation to determining which medium and language are best suited for executing the conceptual intent of each work. In some figurative pieces, she works with oil and acrylic paint, using body language and colour to assert power to the viewer and convey confidence and joy. In a society that often encourages narratives of trauma and pain for people of the global majority, these works depict empowerment and happiness as a way to manifest these conditions into the world and inspire hope. In other works, she uses abstraction and incorporates objects and unconventional materials, which function metonymically to represent individual experiences and wider societal conditions. Concerned with enabling a reclaiming of narrative, the addition of objects in these works allows for the development of direct, tangible connections to people, places and histories. She earned her BFA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and her MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London. Mejía exhibits internationally, and her artwork resides in multiple permanent collections of academic institutions and museums. In 2022, she unveiled a suite of new paintings at Peter von Kant Gallery, marking the artist’s first solo show in Europe. Mejía’s painting America is currently on display at the United States Capitol Building.

zullymejiastudio@gmail.com