Ash Barbu is an Ottawa-based artist, curator, and educator whose work examines the relationship between trans autobiography, queer theory, and curatorial studies. For more than 10 years, Barbu has researched AIDS cultural histories while expanding their interdisciplinary artistic praxis to involve diverse collaborators and audiences. They hold an M.A. in Art History from the University of Toronto and were a recipient of the Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators. Recently, they were the Guest Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Ottawa’s Department of Visual Arts and a Research Fellow at Visual AIDS, New York. Their writings on politics, aesthetics, and ethics have appeared in publications that include Esse art + opinions, Espace art actuel, Canadian Art, Journal of Curatorial Studies, and OnCurating. Alongside their curatorial work, Barbu has facilitated student workshops for organizations such as Cambridge Art Galleries, the Art Gallery of Guelph, and the US Embassy in Ottawa. In November 2023, Barbu and Aylin Abbasi presented their first feature-length film Mother Ladder Night at the DARC Microcinema, Ottawa.
EducationM.A. Art History, University of Toronto
B.A. (Hons.) History and Theory of Art, University of Ottawa
Research Fellow, Visual AIDS
Guest Scholar-in-Residence, University of Ottawa
SAW Gallery Prize for New Works, SAW Gallery
The Researcher-is-Present Residency Scholarship, Vtape
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Graduate Scholarship
Middlebrook Prize for Young Canadian Curators
Cultural Programs Grant Recipient, US Embassy in Ottawa
Independent Research Award: History and Theory of Art, University of Ottawa
Writing Residency Scholarship, Parque Cultural de Valparaíso, Chile
Curatorial Incubator Scholarship, Vtape