Jade Townsend
b. 1986

Selected works
Exhibitions
Artist CV

Jade Townsend is a multi-disciplinary artist working at the intersection of her Māori, Pākehā, and British heritage. Born and raised in Whanganui (NZ), she moved to Liverpool (UK) as a teenager. Exposure to a wide range of accents, dialects, regional slang, folktales, and pūrākau made her interested in translation, memory and mythology building.

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.