Ruth Buchanan (born 1980) is a contemporary

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

artist of

Te Āti Awa Te Āti Awa is a Māori iwi with traditional bases in the Taranaki and Wellington regions of New Zealand. Approximately 17,000 people registered their affiliation to Te Āti Awa in 2001, with around 10,000 in Taranaki, 2,000 in Wellington and arou ...

Taranaki Taranaki is a region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano of Mount Taranaki, also known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the city of New Plymouth. The New Plymouth D ...

, and European decent. Buchanan was born in

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

and grew up in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. She lives and works in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Education

Buchanan graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the

Elam School of Fine Arts The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded by John Edward Elam, is part of the Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland. Students study degrees in fine art with an emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach. The schoo ...

, Auckland, in 2002. She completed a Master of Fine Arts at the

Piet Zwart Institute The Piet Zwart Institute is a post-graduate institute for study and research in art, media and design based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Named in memory of the Dutch designer Piet Zwart, it was inaugurated in 2001. The current postgraduate study p ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Netherlands in 2007. From 2008-09 she was a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In 2012 she was Artist in Residence at Colin McCahon House in Auckland, and in 2015 and 2016 she was the

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery The Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is a contemporary art museum at New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. The gallery receives core funding from the New Plymouth District Council. Govett-Brewster is recognised internationally for contemporary art. H ...

's Artist in Residence.

Career

Buchanan has exhibited extensively in Europe and in New Zealand. She was represented by Hopkinson Mossman, a contemporary art gallery in New Zealand from 2011-20. In 2018 she was awarded New Zealand's Walters PrizeWalters Prize
/ref> for her groundbreaking project BAD VISUAL SYSTEMS first shown at Adam Art Gallery, working closely with Judith Hopf and Marianne Wex. She works across exhibition making, writing, design, publishing, and teaching. Her work draws out the contested and dynamic relationship between the body, power, language and the archive. This process of contesting often relates closely to the types of relationships that standardised infrastructures, such as archives, libraries, and museums create between our bodies and society at large and actively asks how these relationships could be otherwise. In 2023 Buchanan moved with her family to New Zealand to take up the role of Director Kaitohu of

Artspace Aotearoa Artspace Aotearoa (previously known as Artspace NZ) is an art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on Karangahape Road in Newton. The gallery was founded in 1987, and focuses on contemporary New Zealand and overseas art. It should no ...

in Auckland.

References

External links

Studio Ruth BuchananEvacuation TapesThe Friction in the Collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchanan, Ruth Living people 21st-century New Zealand artists New Zealand women artists Elam Art School alumni 1980 births Te Āti Awa people Taranaki (iwi) People from New Plymouth