Julie Curtiss: We Are Still Becoming
Reflections on motherhood, identity, and the quiet transformations within us.
Julie Curtiss Cradles, 2025, Acrylic and oil on canvas Diptych, each: 101.6 x 81.3 cm | 40 x 32 in. Image copyright of White Cube.
Julie Curtiss’s first solo exhibition at White Cube Seoul arrives as a tender, unsettling mirror—one that reflects the shifting identities of women and mothers. Through her newest body of work created after becoming a mother, Curtiss traces the emotional terrain between who we were, who we are, and who we continue to become.
I’ve followed Julie Curtiss for years, long before this exhibition arrived in Seoul. Seeing her first solo show at White Cube felt like meeting an artist whose language I already knew—one that speaks softly but sharply about the invisible pressures and pleasures of womanhood.
After becoming a mother, Curtiss created a new body of work that pulls us into the subtle fractures of identity. There is a quiet confusion many mothers carry: Who was I? Who am I now? That fleeting breath of freedom when the baby finally falls asleep, followed by the sudden rush of guilt, tenderness, fear, and resilience—the entire emotional tide seems to seep into her canvases.
Julie Curtiss Bassinet 2024, Gouache on paper 38.1 x 48.6 cm | 15 x 19 1/8 in.
51 x 62 x 3.5 cm | 20 1/16 x 24 7/16 x 1 3/8 in. (framed), Image copyright of White Cube
Curtiss paints the split between womanhood and motherhood with honesty and a gentle humor. Her works articulate the feelings so many of us have held but never voiced: the coexistence, the shifting, the rebuilding of a self that refuses to disappear.
While standing before her paintings, something became clear:
All mothers are still becoming.
Transformation isn’t a loss.
It stays with us, shaping us into someone stronger, truer, and quietly new.
줄리 커티스는 오랫동안 좋아해온 작가였지만, 서울 화이트큐브에서 처음 열린 개인전을 마주한 순간은 전혀 다른 깊이였다. 특히 작가가 엄마가 된 이후 새롭게 선보인 작업이라는 점에서, 전시는 조용하지만 강렬한 여운을 남겼다.
엄마이자 여성으로 살아가며 경험하는 혼란들—
“나는 누구였지? 지금의 나는 누구지?”
아이가 잠들어 잠깐 숨을 고르는 그 짧은 순간의 자유, 그리고 곧이어 밀려오는 죄책감과 사랑, 두려움, 변화의 무게. 이러한 감정들이 커티스의 화면에서 고요한 파동처럼 번져갔다.
커티스는 여성성과 모성 사이의 균열과 재탄생을 솔직하게, 때로는 유머러스하게 포착한다. 우리가 마음속에 담아두고만 있었던 감정들이 작품을 통해 조용히 말 걸어오는 듯했다.
그 앞에 서 있는 동안 깨달았다.
세상의 모든 엄마들은 여전히 새로운 ‘나’로 자라는 중이라는 것.
그리고 그 변화는 사라지는 것이 아니라
내 안에 남아, 더 단단한 나를 만들어준다는 사실을.
Julie Curtiss Woman with a Whisk2025, Acrylic and oil on canvas 101.6 x 83.8 cm | 40 x 33 in. Image copyright of White Cube
Exhibition Details
Artist: Julie Curtiss
Venue: White Cube Seoul
Exhibition: Maid in Feathers, 5 November 2025 – 10 January 2026
Instagram: @juliecurtissartist
