Carla Busuttil has created and collaborated on works in multiple mediums, though her practice has a core focus on the materiality and medium of painting. Busuttil’s work negotiates historical figures, the shadows and spectres of colonialism and wealth inequality. She is particularly interested in notions of private versus public space, mapping and illustrating these often competing worlds – having recently developed a collaborative project on the topic of private security and the corporate entities that operate in that industry. While she is based in the UK, much of her work is influenced by the context of growing up in late apartheid South Africa. Often the subject matter she chooses to explore is a reflection on contemporary versions of segregated settings as well as sites of exclusion and privilege – gated communities, private schools, tax havens – and their impact on society and the various groups occupying these settings.

Busuttil (b.1982, Johannesburg, South Africa) completed the Postgraduate Programme at Royal Academy Schools, London, following on from a BA (Hons.) in Fine Arts at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Her work has featured in group shows, including: Newspeak: British Art Now, at the Saatchi Gallery, London and AGSA, Adelaide, and in the Jerwood Contemporary Painting Prize, Jerwood Space, London and the John Moores Painting Prize at the Walker Gallery, Liverpool. She has held numerous solo shows including Josh Lilley Gallery, London and Space K, Seoul as well as Goodman Gallery Johannesburg and Cape Town. Busuttil features in recent publications 100 Painters of Tomorrow, Painting Now, and Picturing People (Thames & Hudson). Last year Busuttil took part in the John Moores Painting Prize exhibition in the UK as well as in a group show at the Artist Alliance Gallery in New York. She currently lives and work in Birmingham, UK