Andrea Juillerat-Olvera is a scholar and thinker creating on a multitude of levels. Working as a sign language interpreter in higher education during the last seventeen years enabled her to pursue additional degrees in her own areas of interest, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from UW Seattle, and a Master of Fine Arts in Performance Art from the University of Nevada, Reno. Formerly a resident of Seattle, Washington, she left in 2005 to travel Eastern Europe and living and working as an English teacher in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her art and writing address gender, politics, performance, and disability issues. Andrea’s creative manifestations are informed by her daily exposure to a broad range of learning environments, her time spent abroad, and decades of political activism. She currently resides in Reno, Nevada with her husband, artist Ricardo Olvera.
When the physicality of our embodiment is reinforced the mind-body dichotomy dissolves. The experience is not one of separation, but unity. Here the body can reveal something of its nature, it can tell more than the voice. My work is a performance of intimate self, an act of philosophy, a practice of embodiment, and a reminder that we are vulnerable. For me, the body isn't only a tool, but also a canvas, and vehicle for communicating that which cannot be framed with words. Paint, textile, movement and sound act as physical and psychological prosthetics, extensions of myself into space. In this way, a brief intimacy with the audience is achieved through carefully crafted situations.
