BARBARA BENISH

California-born artist Barbara Benish has divided her time between the U.S. and the Czech Republic since the 1980's, settling in Central Europe in 2003 as a Fulbright Professor at the Prague Academy of Art & Design. The social-political changes leading up to and after 1989, of which she was a part of, are reflected in her research and artistic inspiration since then. Several published books as well as numerous awards, grants and exhibitions around the world demonstrate the artist’s interest in post-colonial narratives, feminist struggles, indigenous world views and the environment.  Benish’s sculptural works, drawings, graphics and videos are a multi-media engagement with installation and site specificity, that challenge male-dominated constructs of history.  Her work is in major public and private collections including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Stadts Museum in Nurnberg, Germany, and the National Gallery in Prague. She’s installed work at the prestigious Venice Biennale, P.S.1 Museum in New York, as well as alternative spaces in Los Angeles, Switzerland, Stockholm, Honolulu, and Prague. Benish’s social practice includes ecology-education-community based works in California and most importantly, the twenty-year project named ArtMill in West Bohemia, Czech Republic.