Joshua Obara Norwood (they/them) is an Ainu/Japanese-British artist-curator who founded the Meta Space Gallery in May 2023. Their curatorial work revolves around emerging artists, climate change, and understanding our place within the world.
Within their artistic practice, exploring their Ainu heritage is of profound importance while also tackling issues surrounding their diverse background (British, Japanese and Ainu) and the racism they experienced growing up in both countries in their youth. This has morphed into researching critical race theory, post-colonialism and subalternism throughout their time at university (LJMU) and utilising this for their dissertation and symposium speeches.
Present (2021-present)
Joshua Obara Norwood studied at Liverpool John Moores University for a Bachelor’s Degree in History of Art and Museum Studies from 2021 to 2024. They prioritized researching Indigenous and Global South voices within their time at the University to understand themselves better and further their knowledge within the fight against neo-colonialism that continues today- both in their ancestral homeland and throughout the world.
While studying at LJMU, they also volunteered at the Open Eye Gallery from 2021 to early 2023 and volunteered at Culture Warrington in December 2021. These experiences had been pivotal moments in their career as they shaped how they curate art and empower small and emerging artists through their gallery- the Meta Space Gallery.
Outside of curation, they have sold numerous paintings in person and online from 2022 to 2023 (they retired from art shortly from late 2023 to early 2024). The most notable painting sold in person was ‘FREEDOM IS A LIE’ (2023), which sold for $800, which defined their more political artwork at the start of their professional artistic career.
Below, I have supplied a timeline of things I have done in this period (excludes exhibitions that I am a part of as that will be a separate page in the future!).
- 2021, December – Volunteering at the Slap Bang! and At No.25 exhibitions in Warrington
- Late 2021- early 2023 – Volunteering at the Open Eye Gallery.
- 2023 May to present – Founding of the Meta Space Gallery and its first three shows: The Meta Space Opening (1st of June – 30th of June), Positive Vibes Only (1st of July – 31st of July), and All Great Art is Rejected Art (1st of August – 31st of August)
- 2023 September – 30 Days, 30 Artists Exhibition
- 2023 October – A Space For Change Exhibition
- 2023 November – NFT x ART x AI Exhibition and Gallery Informal, Issue One Exhibition
- 2023 December – The 2023 Show Exhibition and ABSTRACTED!
- 2024 January – Gallery Informal, Issue Two Exhibition and Place Time and Memories
- 2024 February to early March – Sustainability in Practice exhibition, Place Time and Memories Part 2, Art x Technology and Material, Issue One
- 2024 March – In Seclusion and In Seclusion Part 2
- 2024 April – The Land Around Us and Abstraction and Deconstruction
- 2024 May – [Coming Soon!] Gallery Informal Issue Three and Silence
Early Years
Joshua Obara Norwood was born in Ichinoseki, Iwate, Japan, to an Ainu-Japanese mother and a British father. Shortly before the family moved back to the United Kingdom in 2009, they returned to Japan until the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear disaster resulted in them fleeing back to the United Kingdom due to the earthquake and subsequent radiation fears.
Back in the UK, they later studied at Cronton College for a Level 3 Art and Design course, which resulted in a Distinction.