Yulia Mahr (born 1967) is a British Hungarian interdisciplinary artist. Her practice encompasses multiple mediums, embracing innovative and experimental creative processes. Influenced by a life marked by geographical displacement, Mahr’s personal history is infused into her artistic practice.

Spanning lens-based work, sculpture and installation, and dissolving boundaries between creative disciplines, Mahr explores the intricacies of human existence. From transformative states like birth and death to themes of the body and gender, her work examines human interconnectedness, revealing what unities us at a cellular level to other species and the universe.

Mahr’s fascination with spirituality, religion, and ritual, as well as her background in Anthropology informs her exploration of impermanence and the passage of time. Her art engages with socio-political and environmental themes, including displacement, community, and alternative systems of capital. Her creative process embraces a certain formalism whilst also subverting classicism. Employing chiaroscuro, largely monochromatic tones, and still-life compositions, Mahr’s practice reflects a profound engagement with beauty, materiality and natural elements.

In recent work, Mahr studies the beautiful and ‘unsightly’ facets of the human condition, touching on subjects such as postpartum body and displacement. Through layered and repeated figuration, she juxtaposes scarred bodies, decaying matter, and lifeless animals with moments of birth and vitality. Mahr often exhibits her work in unconventional spaces, natural surroundings and architectural forms. In 2025 she was the first artist to exhibit within the chapel at Compton Verney, UK with a site-specific installation Speaking in Dreams, the first of a multi-year collaboration with Compton Verney. In 2024, she presented Unbecoming, a solo exhibition of new works at the Wehrmühle Museum in Berlin, curated by Margot Mottaz, Head of Curatorial at Superblue.

Mahr has received critical acclaim for her immersive audio-visual projects co-conceived with composer Max Richter, including VOICES (2022) and SLEEP (2017). The latter, an eight-hour live music performance was staged at iconic venues such as Fondation Louis Vuitton, Alexandra Palace, Sydney Opera House, SXSW, The Concertgebouw, the Philharmonie de Paris, and the Barbican.

Influenced by visual anthropology and socially conscious art, Mahr sees art as a powerful tool for questioning, conversation, and understanding in the digital age. Her work addresses the politics of representation, modes of display, and questions of ownership, often reflecting her academic background in politics, history, and visual anthropology. Combined with her experience in theatre, this interdisciplinary foundation enables her to engage with the complexities of representation and human experience.

In addition to her artistic practice, Mahr Co-Founded and serves as Co-Artistic Director of Studio Richter Mahr alongside Max Richter. Situated within 31 acres of Oxfordshire woodland, the minimalist, sustainably focused studio functions as a multidisciplinary incubator. This state-of-the-art space fosters individual creative focus and communal connectivity, offering artists-in-residence writing rooms, a recording studio, and a collaborative environment reminiscent of iconic creative communities like Khala Bhavana, Black Mountain College, and Bauhaus.