Jo Randerson ONZM (they/them) is an award-winning artist, author and performance maker based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, Aoteaora.
Their work is led by radical creativity, activism, and joy.
Jo’s writing reflects both the world we live in and the worlds we strive to live in.
Jo is an Arts Foundation New Generation Laureate, and the founder and artistic director of Barbarian Productions.
They have published four volumes of short fiction and poetry, several plays, and the wildly successful non-fiction book Secret Art Powers.
As a writer, they received the Bruce Mason Award, the Robert Burns Fellowship at Otago University, and won the NZIFF Patron’s Choice Award for their first short screenplay Hey, Brainy Man!
Jo is the creator of Barbarian Productions’ twenty-five year catalogue of works, from their solo performance Banging Cymbal, Clanging Gong (2001), to large-scale outdoor immersive experiences U R Here (2023) and U R Back (2024).
They work as a director of content and performance events, and also as an MC, performer, and keynote speaker. Their collaboration M&A with Goldin+Senneby is part of the MoMA collection. They also received the Topp Comedy Award in 2023.