Toronto-based cross-disciplinary artist and competitive martial artist.
“My past and current works aim to dig deeper into my lived experience and investigate complex and conflicting emotions, major events, and life narrative. These works serve as a tangible translation and interpretation of the places in my mind, often in the form of fantasy, imagined landscapes, which allows me to connect and combine all of my life’s greatest passions and make work that is truly meaningful to me.”
Hello, I'm Justina !
Justina Yu (she/her) is a Toronto-based cross-disciplinary visual artist and martial artist with over 15 years of experience in both fields. Born in 2000 in North York, Ontario to parents of Chinese descent, she primarily works in drawing (pencil and ink) and painting (acrylic and oil), but experiments with areas of sculpture, installation and animation as well. In addition to pursuing a career in fine arts, Justina has been a competitive Taekwondo athlete with over 11 years of competition experience ranging from local to international level tournaments. She has represented Canada at International competitions such as Pan Am Opens/Championships, Canada Open, U.S. Open, and qualified for 4 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships- she won a Silver medal in 2014 in the Cadet (12-14) Division, placed Top 12 in 2016 in the Junior (15-17) Division, placed Top 8 in 2018 in the U30 (18-29) Division, then placed Top 8 again in 2020 in the U30 Division through a virtual (pre recorded and live online) competition. Justina currently holds a 5th Dan Kukkiwon Black Belt, and is a 10+ time National Champion, with her most recent National Title being U30 Female Champion at the 2023 Taekwondo Canada Nationals in Toronto.
With a BFA in Drawing & Painting and a Minor in Art History, Justina ultimately plans to pursue a Master of Art Conservation, which is her career goal in addition to keeping up a personal studio practice. Her work currently focuses around the questions, "What does it mean to be Justina Yu?" and "what's going on up there?" Many of her pieces surround the topic of her emotional and psychological journey in relation to family ecosystems and career as an international level competitive athlete. Through her art, Justina aims to show audiences how she connects to the world through her diverse friendships, training, as well as her experiences with synesthesia.
Justina worked as an archivist for Toronto artist JJ Lee's exhibition, "In My Yesterday," which was displayed in Halifax at Pier21. This experience exposed her to the inner workings of cultural institutions, and helped her gain insight into her own Chinese-Canadian identity.
Justina will be joining Queen's University's Master of Art Conservation program in Fall 2023.
WELCOME TO MY HAPPY PLACE
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