Yuula Benivolski

Yuula Benivolski (born 1980) is a Russian-Jewish artist working predominantly in video, sculpture/ installation and photography. She is currently based in Montreal, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the Ontario College of Art and Design and a Master of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal. Her work has been exhibited in Canada and internationally and published in Shameless, Eye Weekly, C Magazine, Cheek Magazine, NOW, Invisible City and MONDO Magazine. Her photographs have been used as the cover image for Augurs & Auspices (2007) by The Creeping Nobodies, A Mountain is a Mouth (2009) and Open Flames by Bruce Peninsula and Healthy Hands b/w The Darkness of Things (2010) by Tasseomancy. Recent notable exhibitions include LEFT, RIGHT, CENTRE collaboration with Toronto video artist Geoffrey Pugen for Trinity Square Video, performative collaboration with Toronto musician Jennifer Castle titled Falling for WhipperSnapper gallery, Land Seen from the Sea group show in Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genoa, Italy and Migrant Creatures (solo show) at Galerie Les Territoires in Montreal. In 2011 she starred in a short film by Nicholas Pye titled The Encounter.

Benivolski works with themes of migration, survival and ritualism, tradition and comfort, or "stories and details from my childhood that shaped my views on important stuff like sex and death or any other transformative events". In 2013 her self-published 42 page zine about first sexual experiences titled "First Fuck" (2007) will be published as a graphic novel. She frequently collaborates with various artists and musicians, including Helena Kvarnstrom, Zeesy Powers, Xenia Benivolski, Owen Pallett, Adam and the Amethysts, The Bruce Peninsula and Timber Timbre.