Kushana Bush: The Burning Hours

In Kushana Bush’s meticulously detailed, stage-like world, religious themes blend with secular narratives, often manifesting in ritualistic violence. Her grand narrative constructions examine what spirituality, ritual and community might mean in a contemporary world.

This new body of work from 2014–16 is rich with detail – each surface of gouache and gold is filled with references to illuminated manuscripts, Persian miniatures, European art history and modern life. These disparate sources bind Bush’s works to both the past and the present; the historical and the contemporary. Human interactions, humour, dramatic tension and intimate scale are her tools to draw viewers into a private conversation and, in some cases, a spiritual space.