Jen Alexandra’s practice combines sculpture, installation and performance to explore the position of the artist as querent, and real and imagined relationships between people, objects, materials and space. It proposes that art can be a way to connect with other realms of experience, interpret a vision – or the idea of a vision – or be a mode of knowledge in itself. Objects, ontologically floating as artefacts and channels for intention, are offered as transitional objects between one place and another.
Jen lives in Ōtautahi Christchurch where she completed an MFA at the University of Canterbury in 2018. Her work has been included in the Arte Laguna Prize (Venice) in 2017, and the Royal Academy of Arts (London) Summer Exhibition 2020. She participated in the 2019 Taitung County Artists Exchange Programme in Taiwan, contributed to the Speaking Surfaces project at ST PAUL St Gallery in 2020, and was an Asia New Zealand Arts Practitioner Fund grant recipient in 2023. Recent projects include, The Veil is Thin, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū 2021/22, and Sisterly at The Dowse Museum 2023. Jen is the Olivia Spencer Bower Awardee for 2024.
Education
2018 University of Canterbury, Master of Fine Arts (Distinction)
Selected Shows and Projects
2024
Tie One, The Spells Begun, The Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū (Solo) Closes September 1st
The Blake Prize, The Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia
2023
Sisterly, The Dowse, Wellington
Singing While Sinking, Sun Studio Mahurangi
Candles & Sticks, The National
2022 (Name change from Jen Bowmast)
Yuletide Blessings, Installation Cashel Mall Ōtautahi Christchurch, Toi Ōtautahi (Solo)
Daily Altar, Paper presentation with Gwyneth Porter, AAANZ conference, Melbourne University, Australia
De Fem, Performance work responding to Hilma Af Klimt, The Secret Paintings, The City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi
Art & Spirituality Panel Discussion, Public programme Hilma Af Klimt, The Secret Paintings, The City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi
2021
When the Veil is Thin, Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, Ōtautahi Christchurch (Solo)
Lavender Imagined, The National, Ōtautahi Christchurch (Solo)
ZONTA Female Art Awards 2021, Finalists Exhibition, Ashburton Art Gallery, New Zealand
2020
RA Summer Show 2020, Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom
Speaking Surfaces, ST PAUL St Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
ZONTA Female Art Awards 2020, Finalists Exhibition, Ashburton Art Gallery, New Zealand
Dimensions of the Sacred, Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland Oregon, USA
2019
Sacred Sites, RAMP Gallery, Wintec, Hamilton, New Zealand (Solo)
National Contemporary Art Award 2019, Finalists Exhibition, Waikato Museum, Hamilton, New Zealand
All my friends are Psychic, Viewfinder Gallery, Nelson, New Zealand (Solo)
BAI BAI, Taitung Art Museum, Taiwan
The Aura is Present, (performance) AAANZ conference, University of Auckland, New Zealand (collaboration with Peter Burke)
2018
Artefacts of the Future, The National, Christchurch (Solo)
Sleight of Hand, Group show, RAMP Gallery, Wintec, Hamilton
Project 306, Room 306 gallery, Tokyo, Japan
RCA Summer School Show, Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom
Performing the Future (performance), AAANZ conference, RMIT, Melbourne, Australia
2017
Arte Laguna Prize, Finalists Exhibition, Nappe Arsenale, Venice, Italy
Select 17, Ilam Campus Gallery, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Artefacts of the Future (performance), AAANZ conference, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
2016
Poetics of Space, G-Space Gallery, Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, New Zealand (Solo)
Select 16, Ilam Campus Gallery, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
While We Were Talking, University of Canterbury Open Day, New Zealand
The Annual Wallace Art Awards, Finalists Exhibition, Pah Homestead and Wallace Gallery Morrinsville, Pataka Art + Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
National Contemporary Art Award 2016, Finalists Exhibition, Waikato Museum, Hamilton, New Zealand
Lives of Objects, University of Canterbury Campus, New Zealand
The Vanguard Project, Salt Gallery, Nelson, New Zealand (Collaboration)
Awards / Scholarships / Residencies
2024 Olivia Spencer Bower Award
2023 Asia New Zealand Foundation Arts Practioner Fund awardee
2019 Taitung County Artists Exchange Programme, Taiwan (Asia New Zealand Foundation)
2017 Jane Rounick Memorial Prize, University of Canterbury
2017 Ethel Rose Overton Scholarship, University of Canterbury
2017 Ethel Susan Jones Fine Arts Travelling Scholarship, University of Canterbury
2016 The Annual Wallace Art Awards, Jury Prize (Collaboration)
2016 National Contemporary Art Award, Merit Award (Collaboration)
2016 Salt Gallery Residency, Nelson, New Zealand