Julia Milberger (artist name Julia Smirnova), born in 1981 in the USSR as a Volga German, has lived and worked in Munich, Germany, since 1997. She studied Photo-Design at the Munich University of Applied Sciences from 2003 to 2007, earning...
Read MoreJulia Milberger (artist name Julia Smirnova), born in 1981 in the USSR as a Volga German, has lived and worked in Munich, Germany, since 1997. She studied Photo-Design at the Munich University of Applied Sciences from 2003 to 2007, earning a diploma, and later attended the Munich Academy of Fine Arts from 2009 to 2015, where she studied under Gunter Förg and Jean-Marc Bustamante, also obtaining a diploma. Her education included international exchanges with the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute in Calcutta, India (2005–2007), and the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, France, in 2011.
Julia's photography works are in the collections of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center (USA), Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (K∗MoPA, Japan), the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlung (Pinakothek der Moderne), and Sammlung Stadt Rosenheim.
Julia Smirnova has participated in several artist-in-residency programs across Europe, enriching her artistic practice through diverse cultural experiences. In 2025, she was a resident at Edenkoben, supported by the Foundation for Culture of Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany. In 2022, she took part in multiple residencies, including at "Le 108" in Orléans, organized by Kunstforum Schafhof in Germany and hosted by La Miré in France. That same year, she was also a resident at the Nelimarkka Museum in Alajärvi, Finland, and at Salzamt Linz, working in the guest studio of the Province of Upper Austria as part of its Art Collection.
