Ava Grauls

Artist / Performer

CONTACT
avagrauls@gmail.com
www.avagrauls.com
IG @avagrauls
Bow Arts Trust studio artist
Scottish Artist Union member Ava Grauls Artist/ Performer

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
• 2023 David Michie Travel award, October
• 2023 LANDSALE – Phoenix Cinema, London
• 2019 [IM]PRINT Studio Kura, Itoshima, Japan
• 2018 Choice Cuts Sugar Club, Cameo, Edinburgh
• 2018 Untitled, Roseleaf, Edinburgh
• 2014 Untitled, Cherry Tree Woods, London
• 2010 Battle of the Sexless, Phoenix Gallery, London.
• 2010 Battle of the Sexless, Sh!, London. EDUCATION
• 2023 Royal College of Arts MA London, Contemporary Art Practice
• 2021 University of Dundee BA Dundee, Contemporary Art Practice,
• 2006 University of Westminster BA London, Contemporary Media Practices, BA (film and video)

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
• 2023 Edge Exhibition – October
• 2023 TATE MODERN Performance
• 2022 IMT Gallery London – Obliterated film
• 2022 Lisbon Art Weekend, Lisbon – Obliterated film
• 2022 Contemporary Art Practice Festival RCA, London
• 2022 WIP Show, RCA, London
• 2021 Graduation exhibition, Dundee University
• 2020 4th Year take over, Generator Projects, Dundee.
• 2013 Me & Me Gallery G, Hiroshima.
• 2012 Hiroshima Charity Art show, Hiroshima City. • 2012 Rejected, London.

AWARDS & GRANTS
• 2023 Jackson Prize (long list)
• 2022 recipient of The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Arts & Culture grant
• 2022 The Gane Trust Grant funding
• 2022 Eaton Trust Grant funding
• 2021 RSA David Michie Travel award
• 2021 John Byrne Award (shortlist)
• 2021 John Milne Purvis Prize for ‘Landing’
• 2019 Moira McGregor travel Bursary

FILMOGRAPHY
• 2023 Elevator Music 2’16
• 2023 Landsale Informercial 4’18
• 2022 Dear Customer (performance)
• 2022 A Girl Called Steve 3.27
• 2022 Basic English 6’26
• 2022 Obliterated 7’41
• 2019 Churches 1’23
• 2019 Ricehouse Test 1’10
• 2018 Dance Machine 2’52
• 2016 Electrohands 3’18
• 2015 Sinema 4’36
• 2013 MUTHERF*!KING TSHIRTS 3’42
• 2013 Big in Japan 3’01

Ava Grauls is a South African and Belgian artist/ performer/ songwriter based in London. She grew up in South Africa during the fall of Apartheid and the first democratic election in Johannesburg, in 1994, before relocating to London in 1998. Her work is inspired by her experiences of new national ‘norms’ and living through clashing or disappearing histories.

Her practice researches post-colonial identity mechanisms within the context of a continuously shifting national identity. She utilizes old history books, parliament transcripts, and centuries of evolving maps to inform her video, performance, and painting practice. ‘Land Sale’ her recent solo exhibition explored themes of unconscious bias and privilege within the processes of normalizing invasions and land ownership. 

Grauls has exhibited in Hiroshima, London, Edinburgh, and Dundee. In 2019 she joined the Studio Kura residency in Japan after being awarded the Moira McGregor Bursary. She won the 2021 RSA David Mitchie Travel Award and the John Milne Purvis Prize in Scotland. Her film ‘Obliterated’ was selected for the Lisbon Art Weekend 2022 and shown in London at the IMT Gallery. She recently performed at the Tate Late 2023.

Ava is currently completing her MA at the Royal College of Art