Julz Kelley is a multidisciplinary conceptual artist in Oakland and San Francisco, CA. Self-taught in visual art but formally trained in dance, Julz started their art career in high school in the conservative Central Valley as a captain of the highly regimented and competitive dance sport Colorguard, learning from a Seattle modern dance instructor who trained at the Martha Graham Institute and choreographed dances barefoot with giant balloons. Julz also became the editor of their school paper and read Sylvia Plath's journals while carrying a black and white photo of Sally Mann’s “Candy Cigarette” on their binder. In college, they continued to study journalism and wrote poetry while choreographing provocative modern dance pieces in Fresno. They later became a mental health counselor, working in dual-diagnosis residential treatment centers in San Francisco for seven years while performing weekly in the underground gay clubs as a drag queen, experimenting with high femme, masc, and queer aesthetics that evolved into several photography series and two fashion shows.
Julz also majored in sociology and was invited to present their award-winning research on white Christian nationalism and LGBTQ oppression during both Trump administrations at the 2026 Pacific Sociology Conference. In their art, they research, incorporate, and deconstruct intersectional feminist concepts such as class, race, sexuality, gender, and the body, while applying psychological frameworks and the sociological imagination to personal narratives. They use repetitive colors, queer symbols, therapeutic modalities, photography, avant-garde fashion, performance, choreography, and writing to explore the shadow side of systems and human experiences through the lens of resilience and play.
Julz is currently developing two series: Sandplay, a photography series, and Gender Expressionism, an abstract painting series exploring gender as a social construct, as well as a poetry chapbook exploring the domestic, queer desire, their Central Valley upbringing, and maternal line. Their art has been featured at venues such as SFAC Main Gallery, YBCA, Root Division, SOMArts, Right Window Gallery, Little Raven Gallery, Artist Television Access, Submission, The Lab, The Stud, the Seattle and Boston LGBT Film Festivals, The Center for Sex and Culture, as well as Canada and Berlin.