Born in Vienna in 1982, sculptor Julia Hanzl comes from a family of artists. She graduated from the University of Vienna and also studied several semesters at the University of Applied Arts in the ceramics department. However, she taught herself her technical knowledge about sculpture making primarily self-taught, with the help of videos and books by well-known figurative sculptors, as well as anatomy books.

She is known for her ceramics, mixed-media sculptures, porcelain and bronze editions, and her ceramic sculptures in conjunction with taxidermy. Many of her sculptures depict human-animal hybrids that embody the complexity of human emotion and behavior and can be understood as psychological portraits.

The artist uses her sculptures like a second language that allows her to address themes, to address them without words, and thus to make taboo areas accessible to viewers.

Central motifs in her works are death, sexuality and perception - perception of other people, but also her own perception as an artist. Accordingly, her sculptures are often also self-portraits, in which the goal is to want to understand relationships and motivations of people and to observe and question oneself in this process.

In this respect, the sculptures are a means to an end, inviting the viewer to also engage in this process Her usual working method is to produce solid sculptures on metal armatures, starting from paper sketches.

Working with clay and metal armatures, especially in the early stages, is an extremely physical process that requires full physical commitment from the artist, and completion often takes several weeks to months. Each ceramic sculpture is hollowed out, leaving only a shell a few centimeters thick of what was previously a compact piece of clay.

The sculptures are then fired in a kiln and the ceramics are then painted with casein paints. In addition to her independent artistic work, she has completed numerous commissions in recent years, such as portraits and the realization of her sculpture "Eve & Eve" in porcelain for the Viennese porcelain manufactory Augarten.

She currently lives and works in Mödling near Vienna.