artists
every piece has a story, and every story begins with an artist
TĀMAKI MAKAURAU, NEW ZEALAND · PHOTOGRAPHER & MIXED-MEDIA ARTIST
Nina Julyan
Nina Julyan is a Tāmaki Makaurau-based photographer and mixed-media artist whose work considers how ordinary domestic objects can carry personal, cultural and historical meaning. Drawing on ideas of the archive and museum display, she brings renewed attention to the familiar things that surround us.
about
Nina Julyan works primarily in photography, alongside painting and mixed media. Her practice explores domestic objects—sometimes everyday, sometimes treasured—and the memories and histories held within them.
Approaching her subjects with the care of an archivist or museum curator, Nina photographs objects individually against dark backgrounds or within the environments where they are ordinarily found. Removed from daily use or closely observed in place, familiar possessions take on a new presence and significance.
Still life is an important influence within her work. Nina draws inspiration from the Dutch masters and the symbolism of seventeenth-century vanitas painting, adapting these traditions to consider contemporary objects and experiences in Aotearoa.
Crown Lynn ceramics have appeared throughout her practice for many years. As an iconic part of New Zealand’s design history, Crown Lynn carries a strong cultural identity; for Nina, it is also deeply personal. Her maternal grandmother collected the ceramics, and Nina grew up surrounded by them.
This connection allows the objects to operate on several levels at once—as domestic possessions, collectable artefacts and vessels of family memory.
Nature and still-life composition remain enduring interests within Nina’s practice. Through careful selection, arrangement and photography, she invites viewers to reconsider the objects they encounter every day and the stories that may quietly gather around them.
Nina completed certificates in Fine Arts and Digital Media and Design at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in 2020, followed by a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2024.
Her work reminds us that an object does not need to be rare or monumental to hold meaning.
Because sometimes the most ordinary things become the keepers of our most enduring memories.
Nina Julyan
Luminous blue and turquoise bring an unexpected vibrancy to an everyday workshop tool.
In Screwdriver (blue), Nina Julyan focuses on the tool’s moulded handle against a dark background. Long turquoise panels contrast with deep blue, while bright reflections trace its ridges and rounded contours.
Part of Nina’s Workshop Series, this photograph explores the everyday and domestic, shifting the familiar into the unfamiliar. Isolated against a black background, an ordinary tool becomes an object of renewed attention. Drawing on the presentation practices of museums and archives, the series reframes overlooked objects as significant and worthy of contemplation.
Presented in a black frame, this work would bring a lively accent to a study, studio or living space, displayed alone or alongside other photographs from the series.
Luminous · Graphic · Vibrant
Workshop Series · Photograph printed on 250 gsm satin paper · 2025 · 37 × 46 cm including frame · Black frame included
FRAMED