Jade Townsend

Whanganui Ngāti Kahungunu, Te Ātihaunui-a-Pāpārangi

Jade Townsend is a multi-disciplinary artist working at the intersection of her Māori, Pākehā, and British heritage. Born and raised in Whanganui, she moved to Liverpool as a teenager. Exposure to a wide range of accents, dialects, regional slang, folktales, and pūrākau made her aware of the limitations of translation and cultural hybridity as transparent processes. Through a range of hand-made interventions and paint, she interrogates materials to reveal their transformative qualities.

Townsend returned to Aotearoa in her mid-twenties, after studying at the Manchester School of Art and continues to exhibit nationally and internationally. Jade has been awarded Artist in Residence positions at Artspace (NZ), Slade School of Art (UK), Red Gate Gallery (CN), Ohio State University (USA). Jade is currently Artist in Residence at Tylee Cottage Whanganui.