Julia McBee
Julia McBee grew up in the heart of Greenwich Village in downtown NYC. Born
to Richard and Phoebe, an artist and an investment manager, they raised her
in a creative and loving environment with the smell of turpentine in the air
and the facts of trivia in the conversation. At age 5, McBee attended P.S.3,
an alternative Public Elementary School on Christopher Street in the West Village.
At P.S.3, McBee experienced an artistic and progressive atmosphere, where she
took her first art classes. At Columbia Preparatory School, McBee started taking
photography seriously and learned how to develop black and white film and print.
Julia began taking photographs of the city, specifically the Village. She then
combined photography with 8mm film-making a documentary comparing the East Village
and the Upper East Side. Julia then went to Oberlin College where she majored
in both art history and dance with a minor in studio art. At Oberlin , McBee
started doing still life photography and then focused on using models to emulate
the style of Cindy Sherman. Julia graduated Oberlin College in 2002 and promptly
moved back to New York City. She currently lives in downtown Manhattan with
her 7 month-old Pug Rizzo and her sometimes live in boyfriend Ben. Julia works
as a freelance interior designer/photographer. She is 24 years old.
In the spring of 1999, while attending Oberlin College I was diagnosed with
acute kidney failure which landed me in Allen Memorial Hospital for a week’s
worth of “I don’t know’s” and then the Cleveland Clinic
for a final inconclusive “We just don’t know.” After cutting
my sophomore year short I returned to New York for a “full G.I. work up”,
meaning loads of barium enemas, more scopes than imaginable, x-rays, and finally
the CAT-scan that told all; active Crohn’s disease. After a year’s
worth of immuno-suppressant treatments, and all the anti-inflamatories one body
could handle, my doctors decided that the only thing that would cure me 100%
was surgery. I needed surgery which involved the removal of ten inches of my
intestine. After my surgery, which left four laproscopic incision scars on my
stomach, I decided to take a series of photos entitled Scar 2002. These seven
photographs documented the pain and emptiness felt during my two week stay at
the hospital. I decided to take shots of my eyes and face not only to show the
emotional and mental scarring incurred in the surgery, but to document the numbness
felt long after leaving the operating table. This piece is also about the invisible
scars left by this illness as a whole, and how I felt disjointed and detached
from my physical body and ultimately very close to my mind.
My doctors told me that the recovery period for my surgery was no more than
one month, “tops!” Six months later I was still in pain, and discovering
a brand new world of Tylenol #3, Percocet, morphine, the Contin’s and
everyone’s favorite addiction, Vicodin ES. The next series of photographs
I took were inspired by these pills and of course, their side effects. Playing
with dolls 2003, documents my post surgery mindset and my pain induced addiction
to painkillers. I took these photos using dolls as my models because I felt
so far away from myself, and a self-portrait would not have been fitting.
I am currently living with Crohn’s disease and countless other medical
problems associated with the surgery and its treatment. These photos are a way
for me to tell this story and deal with it creatively