BIO

Bushra Gill is an artist and curator who finds order within the chaos of everyday life through art.

She was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and emigrated to Houston, Texas, with her family as a small child. Drawn to art from a young age, she graduated from Pratt Institute in 1994 with a BFA in sculpture. She has been awarded residencies at Pilchuck Glass School and Kala Art Institute. Gill spent many years working as a museum educator at various galleries and museums including The Museum of Modern Art, The Drawing Center and The Rotunda Gallery, while also working as a studio assistant to various artists including Maya Lin, Ursula von Rydingsvard, and Maria Elena Gonzalez. Currently living and working in northern California, Gill also curates, drawing on her experience from a long teaching career to be a visual storyteller. She is a member of the California Society of Printmakers, the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art and Asian American Women Artists Association.

Artist statement

Having emigrated at a young age, I’ve often experienced the tension of feeling included while remaining somewhat apart. This sense of in-betweenness informs my work, where I explore themes of connection—particularly the hidden structures that link us to each other, to nature, and to the larger dimensions of time and space.

Inspired by Islamic geometric patterns, I tessellate everyday imagery, tiling small shapes to build richly layered surface structures using paint, print, and wood collage. Through this process, my subjects are both revealed and obscured, reflecting my interest in what is simultaneously visible and veiled—much like my hair, which I cover with a scarf in public. Layering—whether through pattern, imagery, or pieces of wood—has become a foundational strategy in my practice, allowing the work to evolve from low-relief surfaces into sculptural forms.

The repeated geometric forms I use create a visual order that helps me make sense of the natural world and my own lived experience.  The framework supports experimentation and lets me lean into flaws to make the work more human, and that pushes me to reconsider boundaries of color, texture and spatial perception. I'm especially drawn to the broken edges and missteps, because they automatically free me from perfection and allow my voice to be heard.