paula roush, portrayed in Fujifilm Instax photographs by Constantine Tsapaliras,
made during Wasteland, a photozine developed along the River Lea Valley, London.
Artista, investigadora e editora, trabalho na interseção entre fotografia, publicação e investigação participativa. A minha prática desenvolve-se através da msdm — mobile strategies of display & mediation, uma plataforma editorial e de investigação que opera como estúdio móvel, arquivo vivo e dispositivo experimental.
O meu trabalho explora as relações entre imagem, território, plantas, corpos e ecologias mais-que-humanas, com foco em metodologias participativas, práticas de campo, herbários contemporâneos e formas situadas de produção de conhecimento. Desenvolvo projetos que cruzam fotografia, publicação, instalação, caminhada, cartografia e media experimentais, frequentemente em colaboração com comunidades, investigadores e contextos locais.
Nos últimos anos tenho investigado a forma como imagens, arquivos, espécies vegetais e ecossistemas co-produzem narrativas de lugar, memória e cuidado. Projetos como Liquid Memories, Follow Y/Our River e One Green Eye the Other Blue (Herbarium of the Anthropocene) articulam práticas editoriais, trabalho de campo e experimentação fotográfica para explorar as ecologias materiais e afetivas que ligam corpos, paisagens e infraestruturas.
A publicação é entendida como prática expandida, onde texto, imagem, matéria e tempo se organizam como infraestruturas de pensamento, investigação e partilha. Os meus projetos assumem frequentemente a forma de livros de artista, instalações, oficinas, caminhadas e processos colaborativos que procuram criar espaços de atenção, aprendizagem coletiva e investigação em comum.
O meu trabalho tem sido apresentado em exposições, publicações, conferências e programas públicos em contextos nacionais e internacionais.
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Artist, researcher and publisher, I work at the intersection of photography, publishing and participatory research. My practice unfolds through msdm — mobile strategies of display & mediation, a publishing and research platform that operates as a mobile studio, living archive and experimental device.
My work explores the relationships between images, territories, plants, bodies and more-than-human ecologies, with a focus on participatory methodologies, fieldwork practices, contemporary herbariums and situated forms of knowledge production. I develop projects that bring together photography, publishing, installation, walking, mapping and experimental media, often in collaboration with communities, researchers and local contexts.
In recent years, my research has focused on how images, archives, plant species and ecosystems co-produce narratives of place, memory and care. Projects such as Liquid Memories, Follow Y/Our River and One Green Eye the Other Blue (Herbarium of the Anthropocene) bring together publishing practices, fieldwork and photographic experimentation to explore the material and affective ecologies that connect bodies, landscapes and infrastructures.
Publishing is understood as an expanded practice through which text, image, matter and time are organised as infrastructures for thinking, research and sharing. My projects often take the form of artist books, installations, workshops, walks and collaborative processes that seek to create spaces for attention, collective learning and inquiry in common.
My work has been presented through exhibitions, publications, conferences and public programmes in national and international contexts.
Working infrastructurally
Economy of life
Invisible Pedagogies
Biography
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PAULA ROUSH
SELECTED ACTIVITIES, PUBLICATIONS, EXHIBITIONS & TALKS
2025–2026
2026
Invited artist
The Pencil of Nature. Curated by Elina Heikka. Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes (SNBA), Lisbon, November 2026.
Keynote speaker
ERRAR Conferência sobre Pesquisa Artística em Fotografia. Universidade Lusófona, Lisboa. Organised by Fo:RCE and Procur.Arte, Lisbon, October 2026.
Invited artist
Solar Cyanotypes in Post-Industrial Ecologies / Hybrid Herbarium: Cyanotype & AI Cartographies / Experimental Photo Festival, Barcelona, July 2026.
Invited artist
Ecologias de Cura e do Bem Viver: Plantas, Imagem e Processos Participativos de Pesquisa em Saúde. Laboratório Audiovisual do CRIA / ISCTE, Lisbon, June 2026.
Invited artist
Publication / Artist Book
Cadavre Exquis – Fotografar em Continuidade
Contribuição: Da Lenta Travessia das Raízes
MUDE – Museu do Design
Lisbon, May 2026.
Invited artist
Herbário Metabólico / Poções (plantas, imagem e ecologias de cura). HERB FEST 2026 O Solo é Mãe, as Plantas são Família. Montado Freixo do Meio, Montemor-o-Novo, Maio 2026.
Invited artist
EMARANHADOS: Humanos e plantas em presença (Exercícios de atenção com fotografias encontradas). Anozero – Bienal de Coimbra / Programa Convergentes, July 2026.
2025
Invited artist
Wanderings in Space and Time / Andamentos no espaço e no tempo, MiraForum Gallery, September 2025.
Invited artist
Isto não é um herbário! Alberg'art Gallery, Porto September 2025
Exhibition & Publication
One green eye the other blue. Herbarium of the anthropocene, MiraForum Gallery, March 2025.
2024
Follow Y/Our River (Books of Water), Totally Thames Festival and Copeland Gallery, London, 2024.
'paula' & Work: A Document on the Machinic Enslavement in Academic Capitalism 2023-24, Borough Road Gallery, London, 2024
Publishing as Watery Strategy - The work of paula roush and msdm publications, IMAGO Gallery Lisbon, 2024
Places of Unrest and Restoration, The Silver Record Festival, Platform Gallery, Vaasa, 2024
The Library of Artistic Print on Demand, German National Library, Leipzig and Museum VILLA STUCK, Munich, 2024)
2023
"A title that brings us together”, msdm House-Studio-Gallery Woolwich, London, 2023
Follow Y/Our River: Lea-minal Edges, Borough Road Gallery, London, May 2023.
Liquid Memory, Water Museum, Lisbon 2023
2022
liquid memories ~to read with water, 2022, Borough Road Gallery, London, 2022
Museums Without Walls, Isabel Bader Centre, Kingston CA, 2022
BOX. UNBOX, Godsbanen Arts Centre, Aarhus Denmark, 2022
2021
Memoria Liquida, Casa da Imagem Vila Nova de Gaia, 2021
Trabalhos Liquidos & Jerricans, Cozinha Gallery, Porto, 2021
Paintball Field, Barreiro Photography Month, The Red Gallery, Barreiro 2019
Infinite Multiple, Carrol Fletcher and Arebite Galleries, London, UK, 2017-2018
UNBOUND, Herbert Read Gallery, University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury UK, 2017
Torn Folded Curled, Makan Project Space, Beirut, 2015
Queer Paper Gardens, Museu da Electricidade, Lisbon, 2013
Dreaming Through –On & Into the Exotic, Contemporary Arts and Learning, London, 2013
CURATORIAL PROJECTS (SELECTION)
ə/uh/-books project space for material publishing, London South Bank University, 2016-2018
The Book Dispersed, publishing as relational experience, Casa das Artes +Sput&Nik the Window, Porto, 2017
Faz Tu Mesmx- Arte por Instrução/ DIY: Art by Instruction, Sput&Nik The Window Gallery, Porto, 2016
Hetero q.b.,international video programme, Museu Nacional de Arte Contemporânea, Lisboa, 2013
Off the s{h}elf: the self and subjectivity in the artist’s book, Stockwell Studios, London
New Territories/Novos Territórios
Pavilhão 28 Espaço Expositivo do Centro Hospitalar Psiquiátrico de Lisboa, Lisbon, 2009
Mundos Locais Local Worlds
Centro Cultural de Lagos, 2008
Welcome Goodbye Adeus Obrigada- Journeys, dislocations and imaginary nations
Blue Elephant Theatre & Little Portugal, UK 2006
POSTSCRIPT (Part One): Portuguese Live Art in the Age of Scripted Reality, [SPACE] London, 2004
RESIDENCIES
2025 | Mira Galerias (Chão Terra Pessoas project)
2015 | The Arab Image Foundation (Photobook publishing from the archives)
2013 | Frans Masereel Centrum (Memory of Stones project).
2001 | Bauhaus Kolleg (Event City project)
PUBLICATIONS (SELECTION)
-One Green Eye, the Other Blue: Herbarium of the Anthropocene, Monograph, 2025:
A pocket-sized publication emerging from a passage through industrial ruination, historical and domestic archives, and territories in transformation. Structured as a speculative herbarium rooted in the Campanhã area (Porto), the book combines cyanotypes, botanical materials and editorial fragments, unfolding as a technobiography in dialogue with more-than-human ecosystems.
ISBN: 978-1-7396192-7-5
-Wide Load [Bred Last]: A House Moved, Monograph, 2023:
A collaborative publication documenting architectural house-moving practices through photography, archival research and collective authorship. The book developed across multiple institutional contexts and editions, exploring mobility, labour and reuse as spatial and cultural strategies.
ISBN: 978-1-7391803-1-7
-Photobook Is / Did You Mean Photo Book Is, Photobook, 2020:
An AI-generated publication investigating photobook print-on-demand as a critical media practice. Structured in two sections, the book examines the term “photobook” across vernacular, technical and theoretical contexts, alongside patent diagrams related to automated photobook production systems.
ISBN: 9798669289034
- Follow Y/Our River Lea-minal Edges: Prompts for Transitory States of Being, Artist's Book, 2023: Documents the "Follow Y/Our River" project, highlighting ecological awareness
and personal development through artistic inquiry.
ISBN: 978-1-7390996-4-0
- Follow Y/Our River: A Manual for Deep
Mapping in the Lower Lea Valley, Educational
Manual, 2023: Guides a place-based teaching
approach, utilizing deep mapping techniques
for exploring watery landscapes.
ISBN: 978-1-7390996-5-7
- Liquid Memories~ to read with water,
Artist's Book, 2022: Accompanies the
"LiquidMemories" project, exploring water's
interconnection with memory and narrative
through participatory art practices.
ISBN: 978-0-9553793-5-2
-WATER PRINTS, 2022
An archive of experiments testing the interaction of prints with water, and varied painting and paper folding techniques.
ISBN: 9781739099602
AWARDS
Fundació Mies van der Rohe Lilly Reich Grant for Equality in Architecture
The Instituto Camões and the Embassy of Portugal in Denmark award for BOX. UNBOX exhibition at Godsbaden Aarhus
London Erasmus grant recipient in collaboration with Victoria Browne, Publishing Studio / KHiO Oslo Art Academy
Bus-Spotting + A Story (photobook) short-listed for Photo-Text Award, Arles Rencontres de Photographie
School of Arts & Creative Industries grant recipient, Research for monograph on photobook publishing Arab Image Foundation residency in the photographic archives,
Beirut PlanBEY Makan residency in the publishing studio, Beirut
Nothing To Undo (photobook) First Prize: The Sheffield International Artist’s Book Prize
Nothing To Undo (photobook) shortlisted for The Kassel Fotobook Festival
Centre for Media & Culture Research (LSBU) grant recipient to research printmaking technologies integrated into photobook publishing at the Thames Barrier Print Studio
ADXISTUR grant recipient to develop participatory project Xistorias, Gois Schist Villages, Pt
Gulbenkian UK/ Instituto Camoes, grant recipient to curate ‘Welcome Goodbye Adeus Obrigada’
SPACE Commission to develop participatory project Bowville, Bow road pop-up space,
London Arts Council England, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Southwark Council, South East London Community Foundation and Community Renewal Unit grants, grants recipient in collaboration with Coleman Project Space to develop participatory project SOS OK Emergency Biscuit, London
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Founder & Lead Artist | msdm (mobile strategies of display & mediation) | 2004 -Present
- Spearheads a collective platform at the nexus of art, curatorial and publishing practices, focusing on contemporary mobility and ecological issues.
- Directs projects utilising mobile strategies, transforming vacant sites into spaces of artistic and cultural exchange.
- Fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, integrating para-architectural methodologies, digital technologies and relational aesthetics.
- Senior Lecturer | London South Bank University, School of Arts and Creative Industries | 2006 - 2025
- Develops and delivers curriculum on contemporary art practices.
- Supervises innovative student research projects, emphasizing social and ecological engagement.
EDUCATION
Honorary PhD as an Art Work from the South London Gallery / Contemporary Art Society Fund Award (UK)
Master’s degree in Creative Arts Therapies from Emporia State University / Fulbright Research Award (US).
She also holds a BA in Social Psychology from Lisbon University.
SKILLS & COMPETENCIES
-Expertise in place-based research, decolonial and hydrofeminist methodologies.
-Proficiency in artistic and computational practices, including digital and analogue photography, cameraless photographic processes, generative AI, and experimental web tools.
-Advanced skills in curatorial practice, book design and independent publishing.
=Experience in community engagement, participatory frameworks and interdisciplinary collaboration.
LANGUAGES
- Portuguese: Native;
- English: Fluent
- French: Proficient (reading and speaking)