Temple University

Simona Josan is an immigrant artist whose research interests concern ideas of displacement and memory. Her work often deals with the creation and fetishism of objects that are stand-ins for past experiences and function as material storytelling. She is interested in the role that nostalgia plays in creating a present identity.

Currently, Josan is working on a series of drawings that attempt to document her memories of having lived in two seemingly incongruous spaces: the concrete apartment buildings of pre-1989 communist Romania and the remote rural areas of her grandparents’ countryside. The combination of vague and misleadingly clear, conjured memories, mixed with the collective memory of local political and historical events, has coagulated in a personal mythology. Josan’s studio practice is a constant rewriting of it. 

MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 2008
BFA, University of Pennsylvania, 2001

Selected Works

Josan, S. (2020). "LAYERS" 1241 ARTSPACE, Philadelphia. 

Josan, S. (2010). “Official Selection of Experimental Films” screening at Cinema de Balzac on Champs-Elysees, Paris.

Josan, S. (2009). Instance, Instants, Distance. Exhibited at The Skybox Gallery, Philadelphia. 

Josan, S. (2009). Instance, Instants, Distance. Exhibited at 2424 Studios, Philadelphia, PA, October 2, 2009.

Josan, S. (2008). "13 Waterfalls," "Ciorba de cocos," "Povestea cu..." [films]. Exhibited at International
     Experimental Film Festival "Carbunari 2008," Florean Museum, Baia Mare, Romania, November
     15–16, 2008.

Josan, S. (2008). Veils. Exhibited at Stony Brook University, Manhattan, NY, 2008.