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This privacy policy was last updated on 10th January 2023.
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Queer mixed-race neurodivergent multidisciplinary artist and producer.
I am typically found smashing capitalists, the patriarchy, and white heteronormativity one verse at a time in my poetry – the principal area of my creative practice.
Ex surgical trainee.
My existing corpus of work has incorporated themes exploring sexuality, sensuality, spirituality, identity, and ecofeminism.
My work is always framed through my own intersection of identities, and my experiences navigating the world as a QTIPOC.
I am currently navigating my way through sobriety and recovery from substance misuse, which is giving me the opportunity to explore a whole new lens of discourse, giving rise to the Retopology, Towards Sobriety and Reborn projects.
Part of the recovery process involves taking accountability for past harm, and I am always willing to engage with people during my artistic and personal journey.
Retopology
Work in development!
Continuing the strand of Butoh dance that emerged during the performances X(2019) and Weathervanes(2021), I am developing of a new dance piece to celebrate my sobriety, and chart the transition from substance abuse, through unfolding and reshaping the knotted sequences of my mind.
Update: Into the recording studio on Friday 13th January, then finishing mastering the music, then starting a residency at Dance Base Scotland on 30th January.
Book a place on my Storytelling through music workshop, 14:30-16:00 on Thursday 9th February
Book a place for a live sharing of the Work in Progress, followed by a Q&A, 14:30-16:00 on Friday 10th February
Reborn is a celebration of life over death, of sobriety over alcoholism, and above all, a commemoration of the process of recovery. I have been communing with mother nature, and was inspired to celebrate this new found aspect to the relationship through the medium of photography, with accompanying poems of jubilation. Queer black bodies are not often afforded space in the conversation around recovery, and I want to use this moment in my journey to lift up my voice with a multifaceted self-portrait.
If you are a curator and are interested in hosting the work, get in contact using the form at the bottom of the page
Phase I (Awakening)
This phase of my relationship with mother nature was characterised by wild swimming, often in the waters of Loch Lomond.
Newly awoken from the soma of alcohol, I can see the world.
Shown at the Visibility and Remembrance Exhbibition, University of South Florida, Tampa from November 17th 2021 to April 1st 2022. Individual prints are available for sale below.
Phase II (Emergent)
This phase develops the theme of transformation amidst a changing world, represented by the churning waters of the Fairy Pools at Skye.
Mother Nature is stormy, and relationships are tested, reflecting the effort it has taken to get to this point of sobriety.
Select images from Awakening and Emergent were part of the Transmission Gallery group exhibition - Gridlock, July 2022.
Phase III (Panta Rei)
In Development...
Towards Sobriety
Simply put, Towards Sobriety is a queer black autometanoiagraphy* in verse, describing my journey of coming to terms with and overcoming alcoholism.
* From Greek: autos [self] + metanoia [transformation of the mind or soul] + graphia [writing].
It charts my life from my wrongful arrest and false charge, through to 1 year of sobriety, covering 2 periods of homelessness and multiple suicide attempts in the lead up to the ultimate triumph of resilience and hope.
I believe there is a pressing and urgent need for fresh perspectives on sobriety, and especially for traditionally underrepresented voices to be heard and uplifted. The rates of alcoholism and substance abuse are especially high in the wider queer community, and I think that my account, once complete, will have the potential to radically transform people’s lives.
The lower slopes that gently rise up from the shore
Familiar scenes within this dream, I’ve touched this land before.
But clouds are forming overhead,
Air pressure dropping low,
The trees once green, now bare and dead,
And terror starts to grow,
The mountain pierced and bleeding red -
It’s my blood, I just know.
The lightning hits before my eyes,
It strikes atop the peak.
It crumbles as I’m paralysed
I try, but still can’t speak.
The avalanche is closing in,
But blood engulfs me first.
A manifesting of my sin,
Or is my soul accursed?
It’s drink that led me down this track
And drink that drags me down,
There’s no escape, no turning back,
It’s time for me to drown.
Towards Sobriety is currently in the writing phase, and I am actively seeking representation for subsequent publication.
It is simultaneously being developed for stage. This was supported by Bolster - a creative development award delivered by Birds of Paradise Theatre in partnership with Bijli productions. Also supported by National Theatre of Scotland
Please get in contact if you would like to get involved with the production of Towards Sobriety!
Sam and the Moko Jumbie is a children's short story, written in November 2022 and pending publication.
My poems, ‘Pandemic Polemic’ and ‘Lord Kitchener Wants You’, were published in Poetry in the Time of Coronavirus, edited and published by GA Cuddy, April 2020 (ISBN-13: 9798625889414)
My self published debut poetry collection - Poetry for Punks - debuted at the Glasgow Zine Fest in April 2019.
Copies are available in local independent and queer bookstores.
Sapphic Sonnets is a sonnet corona, available as a chapbook in Category Is, in standard and accessible print versions.
My debut zine, Παντα Ρει (Panta Rei), won the Glasgow School of Art (GSA) Zine Competition in 2018, and is available in the collections of the GSA library, and the Glasgow Zine Library.
Terminal Hair (Video) - May 2022 - A short film about facial hair dysphoria. Not suitable for viewers with photosensitive epilepsy
Screened by Glasgow Artists Moving Image Studios x Glasgow Zine Library at the Bat. Lab on 11th August for the Govanhill Festival 2022.
Screened by North Lands Creative as part of Glass Meet The Future Film Festival January 2023, in partnership with Shanghai Museum of Glass.
Reclamation (Photographs) - Reclamation was a series of photographs contemplating the resilience of non-human nature. Shrubs, ivy, and lichen reclaim abandoned ruins. Non-human nature gains agency, inanimate objects are humanised and human activity is nothing but a shadow of the past.
Part of group exhibition: Hu(man) Nature - July 2019, Tenement House, Glasgow. Highly commended for GSA Degree Show Sustainability prize
Autophilia (Sculpture) - Autophilia was a sculptural piece that layered seemingly contradictory associations with products of industrial society and an allegel symbol of the female gender. The crass dichotomy of metals, wire, rubber tyre, and the soft sensual shape of the vulva mock the supposed dualism between the human and non-human.
Autophilia was also part of the Hu(man) Nature exhibition
Konversationsraum (Sculpture) - Poems and imagery were carved and burnt into square pieces of plywood. These were displayed on the empty plinth in Jockel-Fuchs-Platz, alongside the banks of the Rhine. Half of the poems were in English and half in German, to highlight the values that unite people across Europe in the aftermath of Brexit.
Solo exhibition - July 2019, Jockel-Fuchs-Platz, Mainz, Germany. Glasgow.
X (Sculpture) - Voodoo sefirot and sacrifice mat, as a commentary on the way Voodoo is perceived in the West. (images below)
Part of group exhibition: Hopelessly Devoted - June 2019, Garment Factory, Glasgow.
March 2019 - Group Exhibition with GSA POC Collective - Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
November 2018 - Group Exhibition with GSA POC Collective - 16 Nicholson Street, Glasgow
Live storytelling on 4th December 2022 for LGBT Health and Wellbeing's Winter Celebration, St Mark's Unitarian Church, Edinburgh.
Live poetry performance on 7th October 2022 - Meet the Poets with Lavender Menace for Black History Month, LGBT Health and Wellbeing, Edinburgh.
Live poetry performance on 19th June 2022 at Pride for All Cabaret, Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh.
Weathervanes (Dance) - Developed and Choreographed by Jian Yi. Performed during DanceLive Festival at The Anatomy Rooms, Aberdeen, on 15th October 2021. Sell-out performances during Dance International Glasgow at The Tramway, Glasgow, on 9th October 2021.
Live poetry performance on 13th July 2019 at Sockelalarm Festival, produced by Put Put Put collective, Mainz, Germany. The performance provided the opportunity for an intimate discussion with the public of Mainz regarding identity, sense of self, and sense of place.
X (Dance) - Dance within one of the elevators, on the theme of sacrifice. By portraying myself as a divine being, reframing the perspective of the viewers with regards to black people in general.
Performed 6th June 2019, Garment Factory, Glasgow.
Surrounds (Commissioned live poetry performance) - 5th June 2019, The Art School, Glasgow
Live poetry performance on 18th May 2019 for GAS Herbal Unity Fundraiser, Glasgow Autonomous Space
Live poetry performance on 30th March 2019 for Drag Me To Brexit, The Pond, Edinburgh
Performance for Sun (Ubiquitous Authority) on 24th February 2019, produced by Wassili Widmer at Glasgow Autonomous Space
Stories with Sukhy (produced, compered, and stand-up comedy performance) - 20th February 2019, The Vic Bar, Glasgow
Scottish BAME Writers Network 2021 Conference (Online): Staying Connected to Your Roots - Guest Panellist
2019: UK Black Pride and 56 Dean Street Wellbeing Programme (London): QLGBTI Womxn of Colour: My Pleasure, My Power - Guest Panellist
For Sale
Giclee prints of each photograph in Reborn Phase I (Awakening) are available, as part of an exclusive limited edition of 6, as well as monoprints of the images from Phase II (Emergent) - whether you appreciate art, want to celebrate queer black joy, or both!
Your selections are printed at 18 x 12 inches on archival quality sustainable 300gsm hemp, signed, and mounted. Shipping is unframed, as part of an effort to reduce the carbon footprint of my practice. If you are interested in international shipping, please contact me directly, as you will not be able to complete PayPal checkout below.
2014: Institute of Medical Ethics – Competitive Institutional Grant secured for University of Glasgow symposium ‘Social Media – Post it, pin it, tweet it like a pro’
2014: £900 of sponsorship from Wesleyan, RCPSG, DDU, and Dental Protection secured for ‘Social Media – Post it, pin it, tweet it like a pro’
2013-15: Sponsorship of circa £500 per annum for Glasgow Dental Undergraduate Journal Club from MDDUS, RCPSG, DDU, Dental Protection, and Wesleyan
2015: 25th Congress of the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry (Glasgow): Impact of a Preventive Clinic on General Anaesthetic requirements for Dental Extractions in children with cleft lip/palate (oral)
2014: 9th International Head & Neck Cancer Quality of Life Conference (Liverpool): Multidisciplinary team perspectives on the quality of life of head and neck cancer patients at two years (poster)
National
2018: GLADD Student Series (London):Transitioning within the NHS (paid invited guest lecture)
2015: BSODR Annual Scientific Meeting (Cardiff): Multidisciplinary team perspectives on the quality of life of head and neck cancer patients at two years (oral)
2015: Developing Excellence in Medical Education Conference (Manchester): Does participation in an undergraduate journal club make dental students more knowledgeable and confident in practising evidence-based dentistry? (poster)
2015: Developing Excellence in Medical Education Conference (Manchester): Social Media – teaching students to post it like a pro. (poster)
LGBT association of Doctors and Dentists - Webmaster (2018)
BAOMS – Junior Trainee Group Communications Officer (2013-16)
Glasgow Dental Undergraduate Journal Club – Founder and Previous Chair (2013-15)
Contact Me
Instagram @sukhdevparhar
Slide into my DMs, or fill in the form below if you want to get in touch, want to book me for a performance or photoshoot, or just want to collab and bounce about some ideas! I'm also available for tarot readings, runecastings, and for bespoke furniture commissions. Examples of previous work available on request.
