Bundanon

Misha Donohoe is an Australian–Canadian artist based in Yukon, Canada who works primarily in watercolour.

Her painting practice sits adjacent to the historic tradition of scientific illustration and uses the visual grammar of this discipline to consider natural systems in dynamic relationship with this cultural legacy. By collaborating directly with the land, Misha turns the lens of scientific inquiry inward and dissolves notions of objectivity, thereby awakening to a deeper form of knowing.

Misha trained as an evolutionary biologist at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, and completed a Diploma in Botanical Illustration with the Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh in 2024. Her work has been shown in both Australia and Canada and can be found at Arts Underground (Yukon, Canada) and through private sale.

In Residence at Bundanon

For 10 years, Misha has lived in Canada’s remote north, where winter temperatures drop below -40 degrees Celsius, and summers bring near constant daylight. This residency at Bundanon is a profoundly meaningful opportunity to rekindle a dialogue with the lands that educated and shaped her. It will provide space and time to integrate two decades of place-based research that centres on our collective relationship with science, with nature and with ourselves.

During this residency, Misha will weave experiences of wildly different landscapes together using five narrative threads: succession; reflections; homeloss; fragments; and silence. This journey of research and reflection will give rise to a series of watercolour paintings that will be prepared for exhibition in 2025.