KUSHANA BUSH
Kushana Bush was born in Dunedin, New Zealand in 1983 where she lives and works. In 2009 she won the Art & Australia Emerging Artist Award, Art and Australia, Sydney. In that same year, she held the Arts Centre/Asia New Zealand Foundation Art Residency, Seoul, Korea. In 2011 she was awarded the University of Otago Frances Hodgkins Fellowship and in 2013 was a recipient of the New Zealand Arts Foundation New Generation Award.
Since then, Bush’s work has been in numerous exhibitions including the Edinburgh Art Festival (2014), Grayson Perry/Kushana Bush at the City Gallery, Wellington 2015, the National Gallery of Victoria Triennial, Melbourne (2017), The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2018) ‘Here We Are’ Art Gallery of New South Wales (2019), the Fundacion Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda, Santiago (2019) and Under the Spell of the Image (curated by John Stezaker) at The Approach, London (2019). Her work is currently on show in Fine Lines at Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane (2021-22).
Bush’s major solo exhibition and publication ‘The Burning Hours’ was toured by Dunedin Public Art Gallery throughout New Zealand from 2016-17.
Bush’s work is held in public collections in Australia and New Zealand including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Monash University Museum of Art Collection; Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu; Dunedin Public Art Gallery; Hocken Pictorial Collections, University of Otago and Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art.
KUSHANA BUSH: THE BURNING HOURS
Kushana Bush: The Burning Hours is a beautifully designed and lavishly illustrated publication that complements the exhibition of the same name, that toured New Zealand, by the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
Kushana Bush inhabits a singular position within contemporary New Zealand art. Her meticulously detailed compositions, multi-ethnic characters and open-ended narratives combine to create a unique visual language. It is an approach that has attracted significant attention for this Dunedin-based artist, drawing audiences into the complex choreography of her world.
This major exhibition catalogue is richly illustrated and features insightful essays by Lauren Gutsell, Justin Paton and Heather Galbraith.