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Monica Tolia (she/they), aka Monica Tolia Fong 方美嘉, is a London-based visual artist and communer / mother / shifter / performer. Their work is rooted in an animistic & neurodivergent worldview of queer feminist kinship & intimate entanglements across human & more-than-human worlds. Drawing upon a polysensorial vocabulary related to their diasporic inheritance — spanning performance, social practice, sculpture and sound — they critically reflect on the terms of agency, connection and self-determination under conditions of global capitalism. From 2021-2023, they were part of the ESEA diaspora collective Have you eaten yet?, organising performance-based events and collaborations in the locale of Deptford on the intersections of food, migration, art/activism & creating affectionate space. Following a return to practice in 2026 after a period of autistic burnout and family leave, their current studio development works with inherited craft traditions and critical olfaction to navigate the tensions between ancestral memory, ecological displacement and urban acceleration. Through tactile craft and simulation, propositions of slowness and sensory architectures ground transnational movement in structures of alternative worlding. |
Image credit: Phoenix Tanner
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FORTHCOMING... to be announced soon
EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT
2022 Constellations, professional development programme in social practice & public art run by UP Projects, Flat Time House & Liverpool Biennial
2018 MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
PRESENTATIONS & SYMPOSIA
SHARING TIME // Hold, Shift, Change. Flat Time House. London, UK. 15 July 2023.
HARSH LIGHT series. Bloc Projects. Sheffield, UK & ONLINE. 13 October 2021.
'Between food, art & activism' for ESEA Heritage Month. BESEA.N. ONLINE. 28 September 2021.
Performance Design in the Digital Age' Symposium, 'Digital & the Body’ Panel. V&A Museum Kensington. London UK. 29 November 2019.
RIXC Open Fields 2018: Global Control, Int'l Conference on Art, Science, Technologies & Humanities. National Library of Latvia. Riga, LV. 13 July 2018.
'Art and Automation', London Conference in Critical Thought 2018. University of Westminster. London, UK.
AVBODY: Symposium on the Audiovisual Body. The Research Centre for Performance Practices. University of Huddersfield. Huddersfield, UK. 11-12 June 2018.
AWARDS & GRANTS
2023 | Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant for 'a snake in the house means the family will never want'
2022 | Shapes Lewisham (CEZ) Creative Happenings Grant
2021 | a-n Artists Bursaries 2021: Time Space Money
2021 | Trinity Laban Ignite Award
2020 | Arts Council England Emergency Support Grant for Artists
2019 | Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant for 'FUTURE PRESENT'
2018 | a-n Biennial Bursary Award - Berlin
RESIDENCIES & WORKING GROUPS
2023 | Artist-in-Residence. Ugly Duck Spaces. London, UK
2021-23 | Co-founding member. Have you eaten yet? Collective. London, UK.
2021-22 | Deptford X Peer Network. Deptford X. London, UK.
2020 | Deptford X: How to be together again, London, UK
2018 | RECLAIM Digital Movement Research Residency, curated by Robert Bridger, London, UK
2018 | UKNA Cornish Weekender Residency, Porthmeor Studios, St. Ives, UK
PRESS
Review: a snake in the house means the family will never want, International Times. August 2023.
Edinburgh Fringe Digital Review: a snake in the house means the family will never want, LouReviews. August 2023.
Interview: Monica Tolia talks choreography and their work, Dance Art Journal. August 2022.
Interview: a snake in the house means the family will never want, Chinese Arts Now. June 2022.
Contextual Essay by Mimi Chu, Deptford X. July 2021.
Interview: Monica Tolia’s FUTURE PRESENT at Ugly Duck. Chrom Art Magazine. April 2019.
Ten Artists to Watch: MA & MFA Shows 2018, Elephant Magazine. July 2018.
EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT
2022 Constellations, professional development programme in social practice & public art run by UP Projects, Flat Time House & Liverpool Biennial
2018 MFA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK
PRESENTATIONS & SYMPOSIA
SHARING TIME // Hold, Shift, Change. Flat Time House. London, UK. 15 July 2023.
HARSH LIGHT series. Bloc Projects. Sheffield, UK & ONLINE. 13 October 2021.
'Between food, art & activism' for ESEA Heritage Month. BESEA.N. ONLINE. 28 September 2021.
Performance Design in the Digital Age' Symposium, 'Digital & the Body’ Panel. V&A Museum Kensington. London UK. 29 November 2019.
RIXC Open Fields 2018: Global Control, Int'l Conference on Art, Science, Technologies & Humanities. National Library of Latvia. Riga, LV. 13 July 2018.
'Art and Automation', London Conference in Critical Thought 2018. University of Westminster. London, UK.
AVBODY: Symposium on the Audiovisual Body. The Research Centre for Performance Practices. University of Huddersfield. Huddersfield, UK. 11-12 June 2018.
AWARDS & GRANTS
2023 | Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant for 'a snake in the house means the family will never want'
2022 | Shapes Lewisham (CEZ) Creative Happenings Grant
2021 | a-n Artists Bursaries 2021: Time Space Money
2021 | Trinity Laban Ignite Award
2020 | Arts Council England Emergency Support Grant for Artists
2019 | Arts Council England National Lottery Project Grant for 'FUTURE PRESENT'
2018 | a-n Biennial Bursary Award - Berlin
RESIDENCIES & WORKING GROUPS
2023 | Artist-in-Residence. Ugly Duck Spaces. London, UK
2021-23 | Co-founding member. Have you eaten yet? Collective. London, UK.
2021-22 | Deptford X Peer Network. Deptford X. London, UK.
2020 | Deptford X: How to be together again, London, UK
2018 | RECLAIM Digital Movement Research Residency, curated by Robert Bridger, London, UK
2018 | UKNA Cornish Weekender Residency, Porthmeor Studios, St. Ives, UK
PRESS
Review: a snake in the house means the family will never want, International Times. August 2023.
Edinburgh Fringe Digital Review: a snake in the house means the family will never want, LouReviews. August 2023.
Interview: Monica Tolia talks choreography and their work, Dance Art Journal. August 2022.
Interview: a snake in the house means the family will never want, Chinese Arts Now. June 2022.
Contextual Essay by Mimi Chu, Deptford X. July 2021.
Interview: Monica Tolia’s FUTURE PRESENT at Ugly Duck. Chrom Art Magazine. April 2019.
Ten Artists to Watch: MA & MFA Shows 2018, Elephant Magazine. July 2018.