Artistic Career
Julia Shuvchinskaya (vesta, matilde matilde) is a multidisciplinary artist, photographer, filmmaker and performance artist based in Portugal. Working across art and visual media for more than 20 years, she began with dancing, drawing, collage, extreme sports, tree-climbing and graffiti before going into photography and film, which became the primary mediums of her practice. Her work now moves fluidly between contemporary art, photography, film and performance, exploring identity, myth, femininity, body, shame, the surreal, sensual and sacred.
Exhibitions, Screenings & Residencies
2000
Group dance performance event for MUZ-TV music channel, Russia
2004
Group exhibition and book launch design for Julio Cortázar’s Hopscotch, British Higher School of Design, Moscow, Russia
2004–05
Josh and the Jah Noise System, reggae singer
2005
Snowboarding film Life, camerawoman, Revision Films, Russia
2006–10
Stage design and decorations for psychedelic music events
2007
Group exhibition, photography, Morning at Konemetsä, Moscow, Russia
2008
Collection of clothes for forest trance parties; co-founder of the brand Saatu Tuotantu
2008
First solo photography exhibition, Moloko, Moscow, Russia
2010
Festiwal Sztuki Studenckiej / Festival of Student Art, Collegium Polonicum, Słubice, Poland — lead organiser and artist. An interdisciplinary cultural event supported by Europa-Universität Viadrina and Adam Mickiewicz University, featuring exhibitions, performances and a live concert by an invited male choir from Karelia. Works presented: collage objects and paintings.
2011
The Carling Gallery, Liverpool — co-founder, artist
2014
Workshop for directors at St Anna Film Festival; film Light screened at the festival’s closing, House of Cinema, Moscow, Russia
2014
ART.WHO.ART group exhibition, 2nd place. Photography and painting, in collaboration with Kristina Sidorova. Moscow, Russia
2014–20
Filmmaking and storytelling teacher at children’s and teenage art residencies, including Kavardak, Vinzavod and the Jewish Agency
2015
Workshop for directors at St Anna Film Festival; film Psyche, House of Cinema, Moscow, Russia
2017
Kone-Suomi, book by Kalle Kinnunen, photographic works, Khaos Publishing, Finland
2017
Kavardak — curator of the teenage performative Workshop of Dreams, Russia
2018
Vipassana, 21-day silent meditation retreat, Chom Thong monastery, Thailand
2018
Kino Helsinki — film Can You Bear Me?, director, Finland
2018
Kinocabaret Off-Courts — film Jeu de Fille, director and DP, Trouville, France
2018
Kino Lille — film Dessert, writer and set designer, directed by Jonathan Perrut; Not From Here, actress, France
2018
Kino SPb — film Cat’s Waltz, director, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2018
Artistchild — assistant to curator Anna Melnikova. Photography series Landscapes of Dreams, graphic works, A3 Gallery, Moscow, Russia
2019
76th Venice Film Festival — film Pina, director and DP, Giornate degli Autori, Venice, Italy
2019
Whitney Museum of American Art — film Jeu de Fille, United States
2019
Macau International Short Film Festival — film Can You Bear Me?
2020
Guslitsa art residence — Salt of Tears, co-director, director of photography and performer, with choreographer Irina Malaya, Russia
2020
Eastern Europe: Female Artists Today — screening of the video performance Salt of Tears, Female Leadership Summit. Hybrid event: Berlin, Kyiv and online (Russia, Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Ukraine, Thailand)
2021
MOWNA Biennial — video performance Salt of Tears, New York, United States
2022
Red Bridges — start of a personal blog about dreams
2022
Divnogorye art residence, Restore, Russia
2023
ULUS / I Am Vulnerability — photography series Sisterhood.Power, Serbia
2023
Photographic illustrations for the poetry book Versos que te trago by Fernando Pompeu, Portugal
2023
Reflexos / Reflections, Porto Femme International Film Festival — video performance Salt of Tears, Porto, Portugal
2024
Bodyscapes by Matilde — solo interactive photography exhibition, Talho Gallery, Porto, Portugal
2025
PortoFemme art exhibition — Ocean Is My Lover, Porto, Portugal
2025
Earth / Terra group exhibition with alternative photographic objects, series The Date, Sá da Costa Art Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2025
Dispar Alternative Photo group exhibition with Ocean Is My Lover, curated by Franzisca Nagelova, Porto, Portugal
2026
Solo exhibition Bodyscapes by Matilde, Downtown Palmela, Portugal
2026
Art residence at Downtown Palmela — permaculture, medicinal herbs, experimental print techniques, linocut, identity project for the art residence building
Selected Awards
2026
Best Music Video — New Heaven, Lisbon International Film Festival, Portugal
2025
Best Portuguese Short Film — New Heaven, Samhain Baucogna International Film Festival, Spain / Italy / Morocco
2025
Best Performer — New Heaven, Porto International Music Video Festival, Portugal
2025
Grand Prix — Snow Dogs, 23rd International Sports Film Festival, Russia
2025
Best Film voted by TV viewers — Snow Dogs, International Sports Film Festival, Slovenia
2022
Best Fashion Film — My Venus, Moinho Cine Fest, Portugal
2021
Best Fashion Film, finalist — My Venus, Fashion Film Festival Kyiv, Ukraine
2020
Best Music in a Short Film — Cat’s Waltz, China International New Media Film Festival, Shenzhen
2020
Best Experimental Film, Silver Prize — Cat’s Waltz, Veracruz World Film Festival, Mexico
2020
Audience Award — music video YuJoy — Love, Essex DocFest, London, England
2019
Best Film, Best Actor, mymovies.it Audience Award — Pina, Pigneto Film Festival, Rome, Italy
2014
Silver Prize — ART.WHO.ART group exhibition, photography and painting, with Kristina Sidorova, Moscow, Russia
Education
2026
Torino Film Lab, TFL Next story editing trainee, Turin, Italy — URST grant recipient
2026
PhotoCampo photography storytelling course with National Geographic Explorer Matthieu Paley, Portugal
2024
Alternative photography with Franzisca Nagelova, Allmo, Porto, Portugal
2023
Yoga teacher training YTT200, Vinyasa flow
2020
Female Leadership Academy, Elda Debate and Leadership Academy, Berlin, Germany — grant from the Ministry of Culture of Germany
2017
Theatre directing, Gogol School, Moscow, Russia
2013–15
Music video directing, BBDO Talent Grant, BBDO Wordshop Academy, Moscow, Russia
2009–11
Polish philology, grant from Adam Mickiewicz University (UAM), Słubice, Poland
2005–07
Cinematography, Institute of Television and Radio (GITR), master Andrey Kirillov, Moscow, Russia
2005
Studio photography course
2003–04
Graphic design course, British Higher School of Design, Moscow, Russia
2002–03
Anglo-Russian school — statistics, English literature, economics, advertising, mathematics
1994–2002
Dance and movement training — ballroom and Latin, breakdance, contemporary and modern choreography, pop and show dance, partner dancing