#  Ava Bush 

Ph.D. Candidate in Japanese Art History and Buddhism

 

 

 



   ![A woman with dark hair looks down and to the right in a monochrome photograph](/sites/g/files/omnuum3106/files/styles/hwp_4_5__320x400/public/2026-08/Ava%20Bush%20photo.jpeg?itok=ouKR97qt) 

 



 

 email <avabush@g.harvard.edu> 

 



 

Ava Bush studies the transregional origins of the pictorial and spatial traditions undergirding early Japanese Esoteric Buddhist art and material culture. Drawing on ethnobiological and art historical inquiry, Ava investigates themes of embodiment, alchemy, gestation, and gender in Esoteric subjects such as the Taizōkai and Kongōkai mandalas and the Daitō (Esoteric tower). As a secondary interest, Ava also studies contemporary Ainu art, exploring concepts such as indigeneity and the indigenous body. Ava received her A.M. in Regional Studies–East Asia (RSEA) from Harvard University in 2025, and her B.A. in Asian Studies, Art History, and Anthropology from Tulane University in 2023. Her master’s thesis proposed the “gestational alchemy paradigm,” in which sexual union and gestation function as a visual metaphor for Esoteric enlightenment, as a framework for understanding the visual and conceptual characteristics of the Japanese Taizōkai mandala.



 

 

 





 

 

- ## People
    
     [Graduate Students](/people/graduate-students) [Ph.D. Candidates in East Asian Arts/Film/Cultural Studies](/people/phd-candidate-east-asianartsfilmcultural-studies) [Ph.D. Candidates in Religion/Philosophy](/people/phd-candidate-religionphilosophy)
- ## PhD Advisor
    
     [Advisor: Melissa McCormick](/phd-advisor/melissa-mccormick)