Julie van der Vaart is a photographic artist and educator born in Maastricht, The Netherlands, living and working in Belgium. After a Master in Fine-arts, Photography at the Media, Arts & Design-faculty Genk and a Master after Master program of Research in Art and Design at Sint Lucas Antwerp she did a one year residency at the Van Eyck Academy in Maastricht where she focussed on the production of self published photobooks. Since 2020 she is supported by the Mondriaan Fund, receiving the stipendium for established artists, and since 2021 she is participating in the two year international Masterclass Reflexions 2.0.

“In a decade’s time Julie van der Vaart evolved from a promising photographer into a weathered artist. Van der Vaart has the DNA of the scientist-philosopher-naturalist-explorer. She keeps seeking for different angles on a set of recurrent underlying themes. Her themes are: subjectivity of time, mathematical singularity, vastness of the cosmos, mortality, nature, and thus also the driving force of the universe: eros. But at the heart of the oeuvre of Julie van der Vaart also sits a timid, yet abundant, mystery. In a way, her photography seems to articulate an inner conflict between passion for science and a suppressed feeling for spirituality. This wonderful duality has trickled down in the latter artworks in her libraric, analogue oeuvre. Throughout this oeuvre JVDV develops form and method to keep up with the requirements of her themes. Science, time, cosmos and spirituality are hence translated in star spangled nudes, esoteric b&w landscapes, and now, in her most recent work; in polymer prints of timeless caves.” - Peter Waterschoot