Cathy Busby is Canadian artist based in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, BC. Born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Ontario, on April 20, 1958, Busby is an artist who has a long-time interest in posters and printed matter and their potential for grassroots communication. She worked as an artist-activist in the 80's and has been exhibiting her work internationally over the past 20 years. She has a PhD in Communication (

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

, Montreal, 1999) and was a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

Scholar at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

(1995–96).

Background

Education

Busby completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts (1984) from the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD), is a public university, public art school, art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution tha ...

. She has an MA in Media Studies (Concordia University, 1992) and a PhD in

Communication Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

from Concordia University (Montreal, 1999).

Teaching and writing

Busby is currently an adjunct professor of visual art in the

UBC The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory. Busby is co-editor of and contributor to the anthology When Pain Strikes (

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, 1999). Her critical writing and artworks have been published in Image, Index and Inscription: Essays on Contemporary Canadian Photography (Gallery 44, YYZ Press, 2005) and General Idea Editions 1967–1995 (Blackwood Gallery, 2003), as well as C Magazine, Fuse, Tessara, Border/lines and Archivaria. She has a BFA from the

, an MA in Media Studies (1992) and a PhD in Communication (1999) from

, Montreal.

Artwork

Busby has shown in Berlin at the Emerson Gallery of posters collected in Halifax entitled The North End. Other recent exhibitions include Sorry, Saint Mary's University Art Gallery, Halifax and McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton (2005); Totalled, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa (2004); Testdrive, , Halifax (2002); How…, Gallery 101, Ottawa (2001). Her work is held in the collection of the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...

Collections

Busby has works in the public collections of several galleries, including the

Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...

, Carleton University Art Gallery, Nova Scotia Art Bank,

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

(Art Bank), City of Ottawa, and the

Selected works

WE CALL

Busby's ''WE CALL'' uses the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC; []) was a truth and reconciliation commission active in Canada from 2008 to 2015, organized by the parties of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. The commission was offi ...

's (TRC) 94 "Calls to Action" to draw attention to the ways in which the government skirts responsibilities towards Indigenous rights and title. ''WE CALL'' was produced as an installation at the Teck Gallery (Simon Fraser University) and was a part of community based project in Hazelton, BC at the Gitksan Wet'suwet'en Education Society (GWES).

= We Are Sorry

= One of Cathy Busby's best-known works, We Are Sorry (Melbourne 2009 /

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

2010), commemorated public apologies by Canadian and Australian heads of state to the Indian Residential School survivors in Canada and the Stolen Generations in Australia. While these landmark apologies had been relatively fleeting media moments when they were first delivered, We Are Sorry prolonged their public presence. In Melbourne, We Are Sorry took place outdoors as part of the Laneway Commissions and the following year it was presented in Eckhardt Hall at the

in conjunction with the launch of the

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...

(2010).

References

External links

Cathy BusbyPARKING 2019MOMMY InterviewHyperallergic review of About FacePublic ActsCanadian Art Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Busby, Cathy Canadian contemporary artists Living people 1958 births Canadian poster artists Canadian women artists Artists from Nova Scotia NSCAD University alumni Canadian graphic designers Canadian women graphic designers