Born in 1990, Malta and based between London and Malta

Gulja Holland is an emerging contemporary artist specializing in figurative painting. Her surrealist style inhabits the borders of drawing and painting and is influenced by an array of artists including Hieronymous Bosch, Francis Bacon and Helen Frankenthaler. Self-identity, environmental destruction and existentialism are recurring themes in her work. Her most recent series explores apocalyptic narratives through a reversal of scale of animals and humans to convey the ever-increasing instability of hierarchical order brought about by the arrival of the Anthropocene.

Awards & mentions:

Project Support Scheme, Arts Council Malta, 2023

Training and Development Scheme, Arts Council Malta, 2022

TESS - Tertiary Education Scholarship Scheme Awardee, 2021

Shortlisted for the London Paint Club 'Best of 2021' Artists Shortlist, 2021

Shortlisted for the Unit 1 Gallery | Workshop, Solo Residency, 2021

Shortlisted Portrait Artist S7, Sky Portrait Artist Of The Year, 2021

Education & Residencies:

PADA Studios, Summer residency, Barrerio, Portugal, 2022

Royal College of Art, MA Painting, 2019-2021

Leeds Arts University, BA (Hons) Fine Arts, 2012 - 2015

Selected Exhibitions:

Solo

A New Gothic
Spazju Kreattiv, St James Cavalier, Valletta, Malta
2023

When Your Voice Shakes
Studio 87, Valletta, Malta
2021

From A Distance
Lily Agius Gallery, Sliema, Malta
2019

Altered Egos
The Maritime Museum, Birgu, Malta
2015

Group

Possible Worlds, Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, Malta, 2023

EXH 10, Floorr Magazine, London, 2023

WOP5, Blue Shop Cottage, London, 2023

MARA, Bureau Iniala X Marie Gallery 5, Valletta, Malta, 2023

PADA 035, PADA Studios, Barreiro, Portugal, 2022

Living Residue, Omnu Creative Houses, Lisbon, Portugal, 2022

WOP 4, Blue Shop Cottage, London, 2022

Celebratory PAOTY Exhibition, Compton Verney Gallery, UK, 2022

London Grads Now. 21, Saatchi Gallery, London, 2021-2022

CURRENT/S 2, DESKO Gallery, Valletta, Malta, 2021

VC Circle Exhibition, Dyson Gallery, London, 2021

Royal College of Art MA Painting Degree Show, Cromwell Place, London, 2021

Together through Painting, London Paint Club, 2021

Another World Is Possible, Protozoa Collective, 2021

Snapshot, Hockney Gallery, Royal College of Art, 2020

WIP Show, Royal College of Art, 2020

216 KM APX, La Bottega Art Bistro, Valletta, Malta, 2019

Autumn Exhibition, Studio 87, Valletta, Malta, 2018

Sea She Sees, The Malta Maritime Museum, Birgu Waterfront, Malta, 2018

Paragon Europe's Brussels Exhibition, Brussels Press Club Europe, Brussels 2017

The International Art Collective IV, Le Méridien, St.Julians, Malta 2016

The Pink October Art Exhibition, Auberge de Castille, Valletta, Malta, 2016

Tribe16 International Art Festival Chrom-art exhibition, 47/49 Tanner Street, London, 2016

Christianity, Spirituality and the Other

The Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale, Malta, 2015

Free Range 2015, Old Truman Brewery, London, UK, 2015

44°, Leeds Arts University Degree Show, Leeds, UK, 2015

Navigation, Thwaite Mills, Leeds, UK, 2014

Open Closet, Lamberts Yard, Leeds, UK, 2013