paula roush is an artist and researcher whose work spans photobook publishing, installation, and participatory practices. She is the founder of msdm [mobile strategies of display & mediation], a platform dedicated to the intersections of art, curation, and publishing. Her practice is rooted in place-based research and shaped by hydrofeminist and decolonial perspectives, engaging with questions of ecological and social justice.
msdm operates across disciplines, investigating the potential of vacant urban spaces as hubs for creative practice and advancing publishing as a pluriversal medium for display and mediation. Projects such as Follow Y/Our River, liquid memories, and Wide Load: A House Moved explore narratives of place, memory, and collective authorship, inviting audiences to reflect on the entanglements of material and social histories.
paula’s work is presented through installations, exhibitions, and publications, often bringing together diverse methods and forms to highlight overlooked or marginalised perspectives. Her projects have been exhibited internationally, with recent presentations at the Water Museum in Lisbon, Borough Road Gallery in London, and the Isabel Bader Centre in Kingston. Her practice extends to collaborative networks and research-based initiatives, fostering dialogues between artistic, curatorial, and publishing practices.
As a Senior Lecturer at London South Bank University, paula contributes to the School of Arts and Creative Industries and the Centre for the Study of the Networked Image. Her research focuses on the ecological mobility of the book and print-on-demand publishing as a critical practice, culminating in the contribution to the forthcoming publication Library of Artistic Print On Demand: Post-Digital Publishing in Times of Platform Capitalism.
paula’s work has received support from organisations including the Arts Council England, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and the US Fulbright Programme. Through msdm, she continues to expand the possibilities of artistic research and publishing, creating connections with curators, commissioners, and audiences internationally.
paula, alongside architects Igea Troiani and Mamuna Iqbal, has been awarded the 2024–25 Fundació Mies van der Rohe Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture for Transnational Narratives: A Documentary Celebrating South Asian Women in Architecture, a project highlighting the contributions of marginalised women architects from Pakistan and India.
CV link
CONTACT
msdm photoworks and publications can be purchased online, in selected bookstores, artist-led spaces and galleries. If you would like to purchase msdm publications and photoworks from us please get in touch.
DISTRIBUTION
shop.msdm.org.uk
PLA_ARTE Creative Room
Bookshop.org
Blue Cypress Books
Atelier Pop-up
FINITA | Imago gallery
STET
Materia Prima
Art Metropole
Hippolyte Bookshop
Temporary Bookshelf
South London Gallery Bookshop
Photographers Gallery Bookshop
COLLECTIONS
msdm is part of:
Library of Artistic Print on Demand
Bower Ashton Library
University of the West of England (UWE Bristol)
Throes of Grief
Readers & Publishers
British Library Arabic collection
Biblioteca Universitaria de Vigo
Victoria & Albert Museum
National Art Library London
Tate Library
UCA Library at Farnham bookRoom Collection
Khio Oslo National Academy of the Arts
artist's books collection
Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar
Art and Design Library/ Artists' Book Collection
Women's Art Library Collections,
Goldsmiths, University of London
The Metropolitan Museum
Thomas J. Watson Library
The Swarthmore College Libraries
Book arts collection
The Boston Athenaeum Library
The School of Art Institute of Chicago Library
Joan Flasch Artists' Book collection
The Centre Pompidou Kandinsky Library
Artists' Books Collection
The Drawing Room Outset Study
collection of artists' books
MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani
de Barcelona collection
Coleção de Arte Fundação EDP
Biblioteca de Arte Gulbenkian
Parasite collection at P74 Ljubljana
Photobook cafe library
PUBLICS Library [ + ] [ + ]
UAL University of the Arts London
-Chelsea College of Arts Library
-London College of Communication
Special collections
The Brooklyn Museum
The Museum of Modern Art Library
msdm X COLLABS
PUBLIC ART GALLERIES & MUSEUMS
.Finnish Museum of Photography
.South London Gallery
.[ Space ] London
.Castlefield Gallery Manchester
.198 Contemporary Arts & Learning London
.Tate Modern + Tate Britain London
.Centro Cultural de Lagos
.Drawing Room London
.Centro Cultural de Espana Montevideo
.CAMJAP: Fundação Calouste
Gulbenkian Lisbon
.Southhill Park Arts Centre London
.WUK Kunsthalle Exnergasse Austria
.Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof Hamburg
.Artstation Auckland
.QUAD Derby
.MNAC Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea Chiado
.Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen
.Museu Coleção Berardo Lisbon
.Herbert Read Gallery Canterbury
.Pavilhão 28 Espaço Expositivo Centro
Hospitalar Psiquiátrico Lisboa
.GAK Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen
.City Gallery Prague
.Living Art Museum Reykjavik
.INIVA Institute of International Visual Arts
.The Brady Arts Centre London
.The Photographers' Gallery London
.Camden Arts Centre London
.Casa das Artes Porto
.Haus der Architektur Graz
.Czech Centre London
.Pavilhao Preto Museu da Cidade Lisbon
.ACERT Tondela
.Fondazione de Monte Uniti di Foggia
INDEPENDENT ART SPACES
.Association of Photographic Artists/
Hippolyte gallery Helsinki
.Gallery P74 Ljubljana
.Coleman Project Space London
.CMR Cornwall Media Resource
.ICVL Studio Bristol
.ProjectoMap
.Atelier POP-UP Lisbon
.Infinite Multiple London
.Play Gallery Berlin
.Voyeur Project View Lisbon
.a l l i n London
.Sparwasser HQ Berlin
.Galeria Mira Porto
.Artist's Book Centre Sheffield
.Sput&Nik the Window Porto
.Overgaden Gallery Copenhagen
.W139 Amsterdam
.mzin-bookstore and project space
for visual culture Leipzig
.Frans Masereel Centrum Kasterlee
.Homeless Project London
ART PHOTOGRAPHY FOUNDATIONS
.Bauhaus Foundation Dessau
.Hasselblad Foundation Gothenburg
.Arab Image Foundation Beirut
.EDP Foundation Lisbon
ART SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES
.London South Bank University
-ACI School of Arts and Creative Industries
-CSNI Center for the Study of Networked Image
-BA (Hons) Photography
-BA (Hons) Fashion Media
.UMEA University Sweden
- School of Architecture
.Universidade do Porto
-Faculdade de Belas Artes
.UWE University of the West of England
- Architecture and Built Environment
.KHiO National Academy of the Arts Oslo
.Atelier de Lisboa
.ESDA LLotja Barcelona
.EINA Centre Universitari
de Disseny i Art UAB
.Autonomous University of Barcelona
.Lebanese American University
- School of Architecture & Design
.University of Gothenburg HDK
- Valand Academy
.University of the Arts in Poznan
.UMAR/Feminist University Lisbon
.Lisbon Consortium
.Napier University Edinburgh
.Danish Royal School of Library and Information Science Copenhagen
.University for the Creative Arts Canterbury
.Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam
-Piet Zwart Institute/
Education in Arts Post-grad
.University of the Arts London
- Wimbledon College of Art
- Central Saint Martins BA Fine Art
- Camberwell College of Arts
.University of Middlesex London
.Ar.Co School of Arts &
Visual Communication Lisbon
.Centro Portugues de Design Lisbon
- Environmental Urban Design Post Grad
.Oxford Brookes University
-School of Architecture
.University of London Goldsmiths College
- MA in Fine Art Administration and Curatorship
.St Charles College London
ART:PHOTOGRAPHY: PHOTOBOOK FESTIVALS
.The Finish Photobook Award
.Festival Internacional de Fotografia de Avintes
-iNstantes (PT)
.Imago Photo Festival Lisbon
.PhotoBookClub Lisbon
.Aarhus Photobook Week
.Feira do Livro de Fotografia de Lisboa
(Lisbon Photobook Fair)
.Unveil'd Photography Festival Exeter
.node.london,
.Radiator Festival London
.ISEA International Symposium on Electronic Art
.Institut für Neue Kulturtechnologien/t0
.World-Information City: Public Outreach Program
.Sheffield Artist's Book Fair
.Hackney WickED
.FotoBook Festival Kassel
.Publish and Be Damned
.Joburg Fringe Independent Art Fair
.e v +a limerick
.AC Institute NYC
.London Art Book Fair
.Blind Date Convention
.Ragusa FotoFestival
COMMISSIONING BODIES
.HS Projects London
.ACAVA Association for Cultural
.Advancement through Visual Arts London
.CoolTan Arts London
.ICAP: Insight Community Arts Programme
.ADXTUR
.UBM
.Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea
-Public Health
.South London and Maudsley NHS Trust
.Science Museum’s LATES
.TAP Trust Art Project London
.ArtsAdmin London
.Procurarte Lisbon
FUNDING BODIES
.Instituto de Camoes
.Arts Council England
.Elephant Trust
.Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
.South East London Foundation
.Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
.Erasmus