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Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Meet the Artist

Justina

Yu

Drawing & Painting

“My past and current works aim to dig deeper into my lived experience and investigate complex and conflicting emotions, major events, and life narrative. These works serve as a tangible translation and interpretation of the places in my mind, often in the form of fantasy, imagined landscapes, which allows me to connect and combine all of my life’s greatest passions and make work that is truly meaningful to me.”

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JustinaYu
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Justina Yu (she/her) is a Toronto-based cross-disciplinary visual artist and martial artist with over 15 years of experience in both fields. Born in 2000 in North York, Ontario to parents of Chinese descent, she primarily works in drawing (pencil and ink) and painting (acrylic and oil), but experiments with areas of sculpture, installation and animation as well. In addition to pursuing a career in fine arts, Justina has been a competitive Taekwondo athlete with over 11 years of competition experience ranging from local to international level tournaments. She has represented Canada at International competitions such as Pan Am Opens/Championships, Canada Open, U.S. Open, and qualified for 4 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships- she won a Silver medal in 2014 in the Cadet (12-14) Division, placed Top 12 in 2016 in the Junior (15-17) Division, placed Top 8 in 2018 in the U30 (18-29) Division, then placed Top 8 again in 2020 in the U30 Division through a virtual (pre recorded and live online) competition.With a BFA in Drawing & Painting and a Minor in Art History, Justina ultimately plans to pursue a Master of Art Conservation, which is her career goal in addition to keeping up a personal studio practice. Her work currently focuses around the questions, "What does it mean to be Justina Yu?" and "what's going on up there?" Many of her pieces surround the topic of her emotional and psychological journey in relation to family ecosystems and career as an international level competitive athlete. Through her art, Justina aims to show audiences how she connects to the world through her diverse friendships, training, as well as her experiences with synesthesia.For pricing and commissions, please contact Justina Yu directly!
OCAD University
Drawing & Painting
Major In progress, 2022
OCAD U - Faculty of Art
Drawing and Painting
Major In progress, 2022
OCAD U - Faculty of Arts & Science
Art History
Minor In progress, 2022

Drawing Painting Sculpture Hand-drawn/painted animation Installation Time-based Media

2022, GradEx107
OCAD University. 100 McCaul Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5T 1W1
2021, Women's Art Association of Canada Barbara Mitchell Scholarship in Drawing & Painting
Women's Art Association of Canada
2020, OPSEU Scholarship
OPSEU
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