Dr Bharti Parmar MA(RCA) PhD

Dr Bharti Parmar

Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies
Honorary Research Fellow

Contact details

Address
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I am Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Art History, Curating and Visual Studies.  My studio-based research project Paper/Cotton/Plant, is about the intersections between materiality, geography and botany with a special focus on The Herball, or Generall historie of plantes 1597 by botanist John Gerard (1545-1612).

Biography

I am a UK artist and academic with a practice of 30 years that focuses upon vernacular crafts and systems.  I make prints, archival installations, sculpture and embroidery.  My current research interests are cotton, Indian independence and botany.

I studied Fine Art Printmaking at the Royal College of Art (1992) and my doctorate, A Grammar of Sentiment, Thinking about sentimental jewellery towards making new art about love and loss (awarded 2009 University of Wolverhampton, examiner Prof Gen Doy, De Montford, Leicester) reflected on the poetics of Victorian material culture, particularly jewellery, mourning cloth, trade and affect. 

My work is represented in numerous institutional collections such as the Pitt Rivers Museum, The Crafts Council Collection, The Whitworth Gallery Manchester and the Government Art Collection.  I have undertaken several artists residency programmes including AIR at Light Work Media Center Syracuse and at the Irish Museum of Modern Art. 

I have supported numerous institutions as trustee including Midlands Arts Centre Birmingham, Meadow Arts, Coventry Biennial of Contemporary Art, and have been an Artistic and Quality Assessor for Arts Council England.  I am co-editor of Colour, Vol. 4 of the Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of World Textiles and serve on Arts Council England’s Museums Designation Panel.  

Teaching

  • 1991-to date: Visiting/part-time tutor at UK Universities including Royal College of Art, Birmingham University, Derby University, University Centre Colchester, Leeds Arts University, Plymouth College of Art, Bath Spa University, Brighton University, Coventry University, Oxford Brookes and Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art Oxford.
  • 2014: Visiting Lecturer, BA (Hons) Fine Art, Birmingham City University
  • 2006: Visiting Lecturer, BA (Hons) Photography, University of Wolverhampton
  • 2000-2002: Research Fellow Fine Art/Printmaking. University of Wolverhampton
  • 1993-1997: Full-time lecturer, BA (Hons) Visual Arts, Faculty of Arts & Education, Exeter, University of Plymouth

Publications

  • 2025: Thread the Loom, Ikon Gallery (25 June – 7 Sept)
  • 2024: Entangled Pasts 1768–now, Royal Academy of Arts London (3 Feb – 28 April)
  • 2023:
    • History in the Making: stories of materials and makers 2000BC to now, Compton Verney Art Gallery (11 Oct – 11 Feb 2024)
    • New Positions. Acquisitions to the Crafts Council Collection, Crafts Council Gallery London (15 – 30 June)
  • 2022:
    • Cotton: Labour, Land and Body, Crafts Council, London
    • Exchanges, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester (Recent additions to the Collection)
  • 2021:
    • Khadi, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, British Textile Biennial
    • Maker’s Eye, Crafts Council, London
    • The Travelling World is Not Arriving, ReFramed Commissions, Format Photography Festival Room 18
    • Ikon for Artists, Ikon Gallery Birmingham
  • 2019:
    • The Twin @ The Row and with Parmar & Piper @ The Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry Biennial of Contemporary Art
    • ITVCreates, ITV logo rebrand project
    • Bharti Parmar. Tesserae; Shapes that Tessellate, The Hospital Club, London
    • Change in View, Work from the Camden Collection with Jane Corsellis, Tracey Emin, Mary Fedden, and Alexis Hunter, curated by Liz Hingley, Swiss Cottage Gallery, London

Conferences and speaking engagements

  • 2025: Facets. Aluma lecture, Coventry University
  • 2024:
    • Scent and the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites. Lunchtime talk with Dr Bharti Parmar and Dr Kate Nichols, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham
    • Cotton as Political, Greenbelt Festival
    • On Landscape. Discussion with Bharti Parmar, Corinne Fowler, Andy Holden, and Ben Rivers — National Treasures: Constable in Bristol “Truth to Nature” exhibition, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
  • 2023:
    • In Practice - Race, Empire and the Pre-Raphaelites: Exploring strategies for reframing Victorian art and design collections, Museums Association Conference 23, The Power of Museums
    • Art, Environment and Empire, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham
    • (re)Imagining Futures: Shifting Methodologies, Textiles Society of America Colloquium
  • 2022:
    • Symposium: Stories of Cotton, Crafts Council, London
    • In Conversation - Walks Through Colonial Britain, chaired by Prof Corinne Fowler, Museums Association Conference 22, Make Change Happen
    • In Conversation. New Collecting Award with curator Uthra Rajgopal, Whitworth Art Gallery Manchester
    • India/UK Creative Industries at 75: Opportunities and Challenges, Research project presentation, Birmingham City University