Jade Townsend

Jade Townsend is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator, and writer 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. Townsend holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in painting from Manchester Metropolitan University and has undertaken residencies at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, Artspace Aotearoa and Objectspace in Tāmaki Makaurau, and Tylee Cottage in Whanganui. Recent exhibitions include He Whare Ātaahua (solo), Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery, 2023–24; Te Ara i Whiti (group), Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, 2024; and Nō Konei | From Here (group), Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery, 2024–25. In 2022, Townsend established Season with Francis McWhannell.