Bushra Junaid (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist-curator, author and arts manager. Raised in St. John’s and based in Toronto (Tkaronto), Junaid maintains close ties to Newfoundland (Ktaqmkuk). Junaid’s work probes themes of history, memory, identity, belonging and makes space for marginalized voices. Her landmark project What Carries Us: Newfoundland and Labrador in the Black Atlantic at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery (2020) included video, mixed media, mural and photo-based works by Canadian and international artists as well as rare archival items. It pivoted on sociologist Paul Gilroy’s concept of the “Black Atlantic” while also reflecting on artist, writer, and film director John Akomfrah’s Vertigo Sea (2015). In 2016, Junaid initiated and co-curated New-Found-Lands: An Art Project Exploring Historical and Contemporary Connections between Newfoundland and the Caribbean Diaspora at Eastern Edge Gallery. Junaid wrote and illustrated the well-received poetic narrative The Possible Lives of WH, Sailor (Running the Goat Books & Broadsides, 2022) and illustrated Adwoa Badoe’s Nana’s Cold Days (Groundwood Books, 2002). Junaid’s artwork has been exhibited across Canada and in the US and is included in public, private and corporate collections. Junaid has a Bachelor of Environmental Design Studies and Masters in Architecture from the Technical University of Nova Scotia.
