Julya Hajnoczky was born in Calgary, Canada, and raised by hippie parents, surrounded by unruly houseplants, bookishness and art supplies, with CBC radio playing softly, constantly, in the background. Inevitably as a result, she grew up to be an artist. A graduate of the Alberta University for the Arts, her multidisciplinary practice includes digital and analog photography, and seeks to ask questions and inspire curiosity about the complex relationships between humans and the natural world. Julya has completed artist residencies at Terra Nova National Park (Newfoundland), Point Pelee National Park (Leamington, ON), the Beaty Biodiversity Museum (Vancouver, BC), Kinnship House (Vulcan County, AB), and the Empire of Dirt (Creston, BC). Her work was recently published in National Geographic Magazine, and has been acquired by public and private collections including the Canada Council Art Bank, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. In 2017, supported by grants from the Calgary Arts Development Authority and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Julya built her mobile natural history collection laboratory (a combination tiny camper and workspace, the Alfresco Science Machine), and since then has been exploring the many ecosystems of Western Canada, from Alberta’s Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park, to the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve in BC and Wood Buffalo National Park, NWT. If she’s not in her home studio working on something tiny, she’s out in the forest working on something big.

Photo Credit: Stephanie Jager