Julie Mehretu

“It’s about negotiating oneself and contemporary existence through aesthetics and the politics of our social reality.”

  • Name: Julie Mehretu
  • Born: 1970
  • From: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • Pronouns: She/her
  • Contribution/Impact: Julie Mehretu is a contemporary visual artist and her work depicts the gentrification of urban areas represented in her own personal story and societal health.
  • Occupation: Painter, Artist
  • Known For: Empirical Construction, Istanbul (2003), Stadia II (2004), Refuge (2007)
  • Awards: MacArthur Fellowship in 2004, U.S Department of State Medal of Arts Award in 2015
  • Interesting Facts: Mehretu lives and work in New York and Berlin, Germany. 
Galerie Magazine, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Julie Mehretu is an abstract painter and known for her abstract art. She got her BA from Kalamazoo College, Michigan in 1992 and earned her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence in 1997. Mehretu is known for being a contemporary visual artist and her work depicts the gentrification of urban areas and sociopolitical changes. Her work show abstracted images of cities and history or urban areas that represent her own personal story and a societal health. 

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