Spring 2021 Run of the Mills Resident

Artist Statement

Julie Ann Otis is a social practice artist creating experiences of ease for every body through empathic, interactive installations that catalyze public compassion and healing. Her installation “American Therapy” translated everyday stories of people living in the U.S. during the first wave of 2017 anti-immigration policies into a 200 square-foot mural of poetry and portraiture. Other works include typewriter-based public poetry, burlesque spoken word poetry performed in aerial rope and harness, photopoetry exhibits, and multimedia poetry installations with improvisational music and liquid projection art. She has performed at the ICA Boston, Industry City in Brooklyn, Boston City Hall, Harvard University, and festivals in Mexico and Honduras. Her background includes studies with Seven Stones Leadership, Authentic Movement, the Focusing Institute, Spirit Rock Meditation Center, Insight Meditation Society, Jin Shin Jyutsu, and Dell’Arte International in Bali. She received her Masters in Arts Administration from Boston University and her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Theatre from Tufts University. Julie Ann’s second poetry collection, Sermons of the Real/Sermones de lo real, was published by Artepoetica press in 2019. She has also recorded two albums, Bodyful Journey and Sermons of the Real. Awards: Live Arts Boston, Hemera, Artistic Fellow of Interdisciplinary Arts (Somerville, MA), Opus Affair Artist of the Year. Residencies: Art Farm (Marquette, NE), Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Noepe Center, and Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing.

‘Live Nude Girls’ is an interactive exhibit about the politics of the body and physical closeness in a post-pandemic world. In the wake of the pandemic, how we connect has drastically changed. We have both new, exciting possibilities of virtual spaces and heightened pressure and preciousness of physical connection. ‘Live Nude Girls’ will explore how we relate to the body in person, in portraiture, and on screen as we adapt to different cultural norms of connection.