Bethany Bash earned her BFA from the University of Connecticut, and has been living and working in Durham, North Carolina, since 2008. Her work includes painting, drawing, sewing, and embroidery. Bethany's work often uses self portraiture to explore themes related to the harmful -isms we are quietly indoctrinated with under capitalism and white supremacy in the United States. Additionally, her work examines the impact of such harms on our individual mental health and our collective unwellness.
Bethany's art has been exhibited at the Contemporary Art Museum of Raleigh, the Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, and the Durham Arts Council, as well as at many galleries throughout North Carolina.
Along with her studio art practice, Bethany is an active muralist in Durham. Among her public works are one of the satellite dish murals at the Duke Arts Annex, the Corcoran Poetry Wall mural, and a community-created mural at Durham Public School's Hub Farm. In addition to murals, Bethany's community work involves mentoring and teaching young artists. Bethany annually co-facilitates the Torchlight Residency in Durham, NC. This residency for Autistic and Nuerodivergent emerging artists, serves to educate at the intersection of disability justice and arts activism.
StatementI began painting self portraits in 2018 after inpatient treatment for depression and an eating disorder.
Self portraits helped me consider self-compassion during a time of hard emotional work and deep healing.
Treatment was a glaringly white and privileged space, but I did not have the mental capacity to
explore or discuss this at the time. As my depression lifted and my eating disorder quieted, my world
expanded immeasurably. Painting themes began to shift from my internal landscape, to my external
environment.
Partially driven by the racial and class exclusivity I witnessed during treatment, my current body of
work is compelled by an urge to label and disrupt white supremacy, and all of it’s supporting -isms. I use my
art to realize and unravel my own harmful indoctrination, and to find the many ways that my experience
overlaps among society more broadly.
NC
