Johnathon World Peace Bush

Lives: Milikapiti, Melville Island, Australia
Skin: Takaringuiw (Scaly Mullet)
Country: Andranangoo (Goose Greek)
Dance: Tartuwali (Shark)

Johnathon World Peace Bush is attracting a strong institutional and collector following for his unique painting style, political engagement and bold lyrics. Painted in traditional natural ochres of the Tiwi Islands, Bush combines Tiwi visual language predating the Renaissance with Western imagery to explore Indigenous identity.

Painted in natural pigments sourced from Melville Island, Bush’s paintings are in the three colours of Tiwi land – kurrujupuni, arrikininga, yarringa (white, yellow, red). Combining figuration, traditional Tiwi lines, circles, and cross-hatching, his compositions collapse religious and Tiwi iconography thereby reimagining anthropological images and art historical iconography. Religious figures, political leaders, and Wulimawi (Tiwi elders) are equally depicted, covered in Jilamara (Tiwi body paint design), and wearing ceremonial ornaments.

In 2025, Bush had his international debut at Frieze No.9 Cork Street in London, with his solo exhibition ‘Walking Between Two Worlds’. In 2024, he was awarded the NGV x Country Road First Nations Commission, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2024, and in 2023 was honoured with a solo institutional exhibition at Linden New Art, Melbourne in 2023, curated by its Director, Dr Vincent Alessi, and showcased new work at The Armory Show, New York.

Other recent exhibitions include ‘65,000 Years – A Short History of Australian Art’, Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne; ‘Parlingarri Amintiya Ningani Awungarra’, University of New South Wales Gallery; ‘UNLEARNING AUSTRALIA’, Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), South Korea 2022; Sydney Contemporary 2022; Melbourne Art Fair 2022; ‘Tiwi Exhibition’, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2021; ‘52 Artists, 52 Actions’, Artspace, Sydney 2021; ‘Groundswell’, Northern Centre for Contemporary Art, Darwin, 2020; ‘Yalininga Ngaritpantingija Ngirramini’, Aboriginal Signature Gallery, Brussels, Belgium 2020; ‘Tarnanthi’, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 2019

In 2025 Bush was a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards (NATSIAA), the Fremantle Print Award, and the Girra: Fraser Coast Art Award. In 2024, Bush was a finalist in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Awards (NATSIAA), the 68^th Blake Prize, Geelong Contemporary Art Prize, Mosman Art Prize, and Fisher’s Ghost Art Award. In 2023 Bush was a finalist in the Sir John Sulman Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the King & Wood Mallesons First Nations Art Award, and the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art 2023. In 2022 Bush was a finalist in 15 Artists at Redcliffe Gallery, Queensland and the Mosman Art Prize, Sydney.

Bush’s work is held in collections including Kluge-Ruhe Art Museum, Virginia, USA; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of South Australia; and private collections in Australia and Europe.