Julia Soboleva

Julia Soboleva, a Latvian-born artist now based in Stoke-on-Trent, creates work that feels like stepping into a parallel universe—one where the boundaries of identity, belonging, and reality blur. Born in 1990, Soboleva’s life has been shaped by profound dislocation. Her family, part of Latvia’s Russian minority, lost their citizenship when the country gained independence in 1991. This early rupture, compounded by her move to the UK at 18, left her questioning concepts like cultural identity and belonging. “These ideas made little sense to me,” she reflects. “I turned to art to create my own definitions of ‘normal.’”

Soboleva’s mixed-media works explore themes of taboo, trauma, ritual, and magic, often drawing from her personal history and the surrealism of her upbringing. Born on the cusp of the USSR’s collapse and Latvia’s rebirth, she describes her childhood as “unstable and unpredictable,” a time when she relied heavily on her imagination to navigate the world. “Maybe this is how surreal artists are made,” she muses.

Her artistic journey has been deeply influenced by her experiences in the UK, where she studied at Southampton Solent University and later at Manchester School of Art. Each city, she says, shaped her in unique ways. Southampton was a whirlwind of new culture and experimentation, while Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent offered a more introspective, industrial energy. It was in the North of England that Soboleva became a parent, a transformative experience that led her to pursue a Masters in Illustration. Juggling motherhood and art, she often worked late into the night at her kitchen table, reassembling her creative methodology with the guidance of inspiring tutors.

Soboleva’s distinctive visual style—a blend of collage, painting, and intuition-led practice—emerged from necessity. Without a studio and limited by time, she developed a portable, flexible approach to art-making. “My style is influenced by the circumstances of my life,” she explains. “I had to find a way to work outside time and space, using whatever materials were at hand.” This intuitive process, she believes, taps into a creative force that exists beyond analytical thinking.

Her work is deeply interconnected, each piece a fragment of a larger, ongoing exploration. “It’s like all my individual artworks are one big piece of art,” she says. “A portal into another world I’ve discovered and have the privilege to unravel.” This sense of continuity extends to her engagement with the world beyond her art. In 2023, she donated 50% of profits from her *Healing Can Begin* print to the Red Cross Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal, viewing art as a powerful tool for collective action and healing.

For Soboleva, creativity is not just a profession but a way of being. “It’s like being a gardener,” she says. “You tend to your mind, nurture it, and then—bam! Everything’s in blossom.” Through her art, she invites us to step through the portals she creates, into worlds where the familiar becomes strange, and the strange, familiar.