Vita Cochran (b.1975 Te Whanganui-a-Tara) is based in Sydney, Australia.
Cochran received a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of Auckland (1998) and since then has made handbags and other objects informed by a keen knowledge of art and design, drawing upon modernist forms and feminist histories. Cochran’s recent exhibition An Anthology of Bags with Anna Miles Gallery, Auckland Tāmaki Makaurau, saw her present over 40 bags made over the last twenty years. Another project saw Cochran replicating rugs as featured in famous paintings, among them Giorgio de Chirico’s The Disquieting Muses (1916-18); Édouard Vuillard’s Three Women in a Room with Rose-Coloured Wallpaper (1895); Henri Matisse’s Large Studio (1911); and Sonia Delaunay’s Groupe de Femmes (1923-24). Other recent exhibitions include The Stories We Tell Ourselves at The Dowse Art Museum, Lower Hutt; Lounge Muse and Painting, Painting, Painting at Anna Miles Gallery, Auckland; and Pocket Histories at Te Uru Waitakare Contemporary Gallery. Cochran’s work is held in private and public collections including Te Papa Tongarewa, the Otago Museum, The Dowse Art Museum, and Objectspace.