What is an artist bio?

In your work as an artist, you may be asked to provide an artist bio.

An artist biography, or bio, is a short piece of writing that shares information about your life and arts practice. 

Who can have an artist bio?

Anyone wanting to share a summary of themselves and their work can have an artist bio.

You could be a:

• writer
• carver
• weaver
• sculptor
• textile artist
• painter
• ceramicist
• actor
• dancer
• musician
• director
• dramaturg
• filmmaker
• a person working in lots of different areas
  
  

Why use an artist bio?

An artist bio is useful because:

• it quickly tells people about you and your work
• it can create interest in your work
• it can help promote you.

Where to use an artist bio

If you have a website or a Taha Hotu artist page you could include a bio there.

You may be expected to provide a bio if you:

• are having an exhibition
• have applied for an award or fellowship
• have been invited to share your work with a gallery
• have written a book
• are giving a talk or speaking on a panel.
  
  

What to include in an artist bio

An artist bio can include:

• Name: Include your name and the moniker or pseudonym you make work under, if this is different to your name.
• Pronouns: how you want people to refer to you. e.g. they/them she/her, ia, he/him
• Iwi or ethnicity: If you are Māori, you may want to share your iwi here, or Pākehā and tauiwi may want to position themselves in relation to te Tiriti.
• Location: It is common to include where you live in an artist bio. You may want to acknowledge the whenua and mana whenua of the place where you live.
• Job title: only include this if it’s relevant to the context of the bio.
• Experience: Share your arts practice. Focus on what makes your work unique. Include significant moments and past work and projects to establish your credibility and tell people where to find more of your work.
• Any personal information or position: e.g. hobbies or a fact about yourself or share events and influences from your life that influence the art you make and the way you work. These will help people connect with you.
• Contact information: Share places people can contact you and follow your work, like, your website, Taha Hotu artist page or artist social media platforms.
  
  

What to share

It can be empowering to share only the information you want to in the way that you want to.

You might want to include a position around your identity that helps people understand how you relate to the world. For example, saying “Jack is a proud disabled person” positions Jack’s disability as a positive identity for readers.

An artist bio is public information and once it’s online anyone can see it and you no longer have control over it. It can be hard to remove this information.

Sometimes people will share your bio by way of introducing you or promoting an event. You won’t always know if someone has shared your bio.

Because of this, it’s very important to think about what information you share in your bio. You might not want to share anything about your impairment or diagnosis and that is okay. 

Writing your bio

Use clear, plain language.

Decide if you will write in first person or third person language. It is common for bios to be written in third person as though someone is talking about you. It can be helpful to imagine that your bio is being written by someone familiar with and proud of you and your work.

An example of a sentence written in the third person is:

Jane is an actor. She has been performing since the age of 4.

In first person language the same sentence might say:

My name is Jane, I am an actor and I have been performing since the age of 4.

Be aware of any word count requirements. It is common for a bio to be between 120 – 150 words. It’s okay to write fewer than 120 words but try not to write more than 150 words. If your bio is too long people may not finish reading it.

Include career highlights only and examples that showcase your work best. A bio is not a full CV.

Describe what your work is and the main themes or issues that you explore in your work.

Once you finish it, proofread your bio. It can be easier to proofread with fresh eyes, so you might want to ask someone else to proofread your bio for you.

Another good proofing strategy, if you’re able, is to read your bio aloud or use an app to read it aloud. This can give you a sense of whether sentences seem too long or too short or if you use some of the same words repeatedly and might want to replace them. Thesaurus.com is one of the many online thesaurus websites that you can use to find replacement words.

Example bio

Stace Robertson (he/they) is a disabled artist working in ceramics, painting and illustration. Stace has a Bachelor of Media Arts (hons). They are a proud, disabled person and explore ideas relating to identity, representation and community. A Pākehā person of Scottish, Irish, English and French ancestry, Stace lives in Pae Tū Mōkai Featherston on the whenua of Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa and Rangitāne.

His ceramic work is informed by and reflects the tension of creating functional ware with a body that is not always very functional, and he enjoys the tensions imperfections that result from this interplay. You can find his work on Instagram

This guide was inspired and informed conversations with our reference group of Deaf and disabled artists from Aotearoa and online resources including the National Association for the Visual Arts and Craft.