Casey Carsel is a Aotearoa-born Jewish artist and writer drawn to the sharp beauty of the fragments of history that tumble down to the present moment.
In their experimental and interdisciplinary practice, they seek to unravel the complex constructions of cultural belonging and home in the Jewish diaspora, from stories to jokes to the clothes on one’s back and the food on one’s table. What is cherished and how is it held? What is left behind? What is lost in translation? Carsel’s work ventures towards the pivotal intersection between art and craft, while being grounded in queerness and doikayt. The works that result are imbued by dybbuks, golems, ancestors, and the visual, oral, and written languages that hold them.
Drawing extensively on historical research, they look to hold the stories that they have been handed from history in their full contemporary context. While Carsel’s research has previously traversed topics including garlic, jokes, and the Holocaust, they have recently been investigating the images, objects, and words that Jewish communities have historically designated as protective and powerful, and the stories invoked therein.
Carsel earned an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland. They have presented ceramics, textiles, and paper-cut works in solo exhibitions at institutions such as Comfort Station, Chicago; Co-Prosperity, Chicago; RM Gallery, Auckland; and Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin. Their works of fiction and nonfiction have also been published by Takahē, The Documentarian, Bus Projects, and others.
They have facilitated workshops for a range of audiences, including those of the Poetry Foundation (upcoming), the Tides Institute & Museum of Art, America House Kyiv, and Dnipro National University, and held residencies and fellowships with major institutions, including Fulbright, New York Public Library, Folger Shakespeare Library, and Ragdale.
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EDUCATION
Master of Fine Arts in Writing (2017–2019)
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Chicago, IL., USA
Bachelor of Fine Arts with First Class Honours (2012–2016)
Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023
For the Healthy and For the Dead, Comfort Station, Chicago (solo)
The Eternal, Studio One Toi Tū, Auckland (solo)
2022
you’d be home by now, Wormhole, Edgecumbe (solo)
2021
Terrain Biennial, Evanston
Present Tense, Auckland Art Fair
2020
Knobl Hearts, Co-Prosperity, Chicago (solo)
2019
Shum Klum, RM Gallery, Auckland (solo)
When a poor man eats a chicken, one of them is sick (but we sing, we still sing), Blue Oyster Gallery, Dunedin (solo)
2017
Rather owe you than not pay you, MEANWHILE onsite, Wellington (solo)
He Had His Lunch and I Had Mine, MEANWHILE online, Wellington (solo)
2016
cry, without words, Window Online Gallery, Auckland (solo)
What do I want? Where do I stand?, Offsite, Auckland
HumanNature, George Fraser Gallery, Auckland
The Colour of Your Heart is What Matters, Studio One Toi Tū, Auckland
2014
CityUps, Festival of Transitional Architecture, Christchurch
SELECTED CREATIVE WRITING and ART WRITING
2024
“Elizabeth Newman,” The Chartwell Collection (co-published with Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki) (forthcoming)
“I've been told,” “the stage (try asking again later),” Mayhem (forthcoming)
“SLOW CLOSE LOOKING: Inside The Davis Street Drawing Room,” TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture 22:4 (Routledge)
“Unyimeabasi Udoh: Flood” Piccalilli, London
“Unyimeabasi Udoh: Bad-Time Party Time” Efraín López, New York
“Dream Home,” takahē
2022
“Unbreaking a horizon,” The Documentarian
“Safran Foer’s Trachimbrod, Revisited,” Niv
“To Build A Home,” West Space, Melbourne
2021
“Haig Aivazian: All of the Lights at The Renaissance Society,” Ocula Magazine
“At this point, everybody already knows utopia is no place, but it bears repeating,” Unyimeabasi Udoh: Title Case, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago
“What’s in a name?,” Lumpen 138
2020
To Me You’re Beautiful, Bus Projects, Melbourne
Anne Wilson: If We Asked about the Sky and All That Was Formed from Earth, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago
“Cindy Ji Hye Kim: Drawing the Unseen,” Ocula Magazine
“Gary Simmons: History as Residue,” Ocula Magazine
2019
“A Translucent Approach,” F Newsmagazine
ee ghaoo maange acha ho jai [these wounds must heal], Clark House Initiative, Mumbai
“A thousand kisses deep,” The Seen, Chicago
“Water and Concrete Part II,” Hamster III, The Physics Room, Christchurch
2018
“Lavender sweat,” “People-walking,” Tipton Poetry Journal, Tipton
“Water and Concrete Part I,” Hamster II, The Physics Room
2017
“A Journey Begins,” Temporary Vanua, Adam Art Gallery, Wellington
“Ann Shelton In Conversation,” Ocula Magazine
SELECTED HONOURS / AWARDS / RESIDENCIES
2024
RM Writer’s Residency, Auckland
Auckland Studio Potters Residency, Auckland
2023
StudioWorks Artist-in-Residence Program, Tides Institute & Museum of Art, Maine
Ragdale Visual Artist Residency Award, Lake Forest
2022
Urban Adamah Fellowship, Berkeley
New York Public Library Short-Term Research Fellowship in support of the artwork series “For the healthy and for the dead”
Barry Hannah Prize (finalist), Yalobusha Review, for the short story “Big Responsibilities”
2021
Fulbright U.S. Creative Writing Grant for nine-month residency in Ukraine
DCASE Individual Artists Program Grant towards the contributor fees and printing of Plates Issue 04: Craft
2020
Arts for Illinois Relief Fund for living expenses under COVID-19
2019
SAIC Writing Program Small Grant Award for research travel to New York in support of Blue Oyster Art Project Space solo exhibition
2018
College Media Association Pinnacle Award: Best Magazine Entertainment Page/Spread
SAIC Graduate Dean Professional Development Award for travel to Auckland in support of RM Gallery solo exhibition
2017
SAIC Writing Program Small Grant Award for travel to The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati
Albert Krehbiel Scholarship towards studies at SAIC
SAIC Enrichment Scholarship towards studies
2016
First Class Honours in Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Elam School of Fine Arts
2015
Summer Research Scholarship, University of Auckland
The Social International Residency for Artists, Christchurch
New Zealand Painting and Printmaking Awards (finalist), Hamilton
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2024
Visiting Teaching Artist, Poetry Foundation Forms & Features workshop series
Communications Strategy Consultant, Artspace Aotearoa
Peer Assessor, Folger Shakespeare Library Artist Fellowships
2023
Artistic workshop leader, Tides Institute & Museum of Art
Peer Assessor, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Individual Artists Program Grants, Literature
2021
Facilitator, America House Kyiv Creative Writing Workshop Series (–2023)
Guest Lecturer, Dnipro National University (as part of nine-month Fulbright grant) (–2022)
2019
Editor, Plates Journal (–2022)
Operations Director, 2dcloud (–2021)
Co-Founder, SAIC Graduate Writers’ Salon/Moonrise Club, Chicago (–2021)
Research Assistant, Anne Wilson, Chicago
2018
Managing Editor, F Newsmagazine, Chicago (–2019)
2017
Editorial Assistant, Ocula Ltd., Auckland/Remote (–2023)
2016
Ceramics Technician, University of Auckland (–2017)
SELECTED PRESS AND PROFILES
2023
Aimée Ralfini, “The Art of September/October,” Verve
Brian Hieggelke, “Art Top 5: December 2023,” Newcity
Joshua Katz, “‘We Will Outlive Them’: The Story of a Song, a Protest Slogan, and the Yiddish Revival,” Smithsonian Folklife Magazine
2022
Lyudmila Sholokhova, “NYPL Researcher Spotlight: Casey Carsel,” New York Public Library
Kathy Forsyth, “Stories retold in new exhibition,” The Beacon
2021
Philip Barcio, “Episode 29,” Apocalypse Mixtape
“We think you’ll be into this interactive project with emerging artists,” Ensemble
Lori Waxman, “60wrd/min COVID Edition: Exo, Olivier, Casey Carsel,” Newcity
Becky Hemus, “Present Tense,” The Art Paper
Lorna Thornber, “Seven reasons to visit Auckland Art Fair in 2021,” Stuff
2019
Quishile Charan, Garlic and a whole lotta lovin,’ RM Gallery, Auckland
Interview, DPAG Late Breakfast, 2 November
Interview, OAR FM Arts Hub, 10 October
Review, Otago Daily Times, 9 October, Dunedin
2017
Interview, Elamite
2016
Interview, Ready Steady Learn, 25 October, Auckland
Interview Artbank, 14 August, Auckland
2014
Chris Barton, “A smart way forward for ChCh,“ New Zealand Herald