Sukhy Parhar

Artist Statement

She/her or they/them.

Mixed race, non binary transfemme, divorced, pansexual, pagan, poet, photographer, producer, and parent. 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.

I came to art late, having previously trained in surgery, but found my creative spark awakened whilst on a retreat. This transformative experience inspired me to commence studies at Glasgow School of Art, and I have subsequently immersed myself in the art scene, engaging in collaboration with fellow students, and local and international artists. I am seeking to expand my practice beyond the production and exhibition of my art, towards more meaningful concrete outcomes and substantive contributions to local communities.

My existing corpus of work has incorporated themes exploring sexuality, sensuality, spirituality, identity, and ecofeminism. This is often politically motivated, centred in my personal tenet that we should all strive to make the world a better place. My work is always framed through my own intersection of identities, and my experiences navigating the world as a QTIPOC. I always seek to encourage dialogue around what are often perceived as difficult themes, through the medium of my art, between artists, between artist and audience, and amongst the audience.

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 Towards Sobriety and Reborn projects.

Reborn

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 by wild swimming, often in the waters of Loch Lomond, inspiring me to celebrate this new found aspect to the relationship through the medium of photography, with a poem 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.

No longer bound by alcohol

I cast my chains aside.

Emergent from oblivion

With no more need to hide.

In vino veritas may be,

My truth is found elsewhere.

Reborn in my sobriety,

The answer to my prayer.

The grapes consumed are from the vine,

There’s no need to ferment,

The simple pleasures taste divine,

My soul is now content.

Commune with mother nature here,

Entwine me in her snare,

Her graceful waters, crystal clear

Caress my limbs with care.

My psyche turns to meditate,

The energy flows strong,

My naked self, my primal state,

I’m here where I belong.

I am who I was meant to be,

I nevermore shall hide,

My body here for all to see -

I live my life with pride.

These images from Phase 1 are on display at the Visibility and Remembrance Exhbibition, hosted at the University of South Florida, Tampa from November 17th 2021 to April 1st 2022. Individual prints are available for sale below.

If you are a curator and are interested in hosting the work from Phase 1, get in contact using the form at the bottom of the page

Phase 2 of Reborn will involve a photoshoot along similar themes on the island of Skye.

Reborn is supported by the Creative Scotland Open Fund for Individuals (grant reference CS-OFI-04257-329A)

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.

Towards Sobriety is currently in the writing phase, and I am actively seeking representation for subsequent publication.

Excerpt:

Dissonant

When did I get here? What did I do?

I still can’t see what’s false and true.

Too much for me, won’t make it through

This malady or lunacy

Will never be what sets me free,

Remand instead, behind these bars,

My mental wounds becoming scars,

And fractious thoughts return to dreams,

Through hypnagogic stifled screams.

A mountain peak ahead, drenched in verdant hues,

Basking in sunlight, beneath clear skies of blue.

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.

I am simultaneously developing this for stage, but this is still very early in the process.

Please get in contact if you would like to get involved with the production of Towards Sobriety!

Other Work

Written Work

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.

Image of Sapphic Sonnets chapbook in cursive and accessible formats

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.

Visual art work

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.

Image of the installation of the Reclamation photographs

Narrow depth of field photograph from the Reclamation series showing new plant growth through metal railings

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

Link to GSA Sustainability

Programme Guide

Close up photograph of the genitalia sculpture from Autophilia

Autophilia installation with the genitalia sculpture alongside a bicycle rack and cut bicycle lock

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

Untitled. Photomontage of the nude artist in three semi-prone flexed poses, overlaid by text reading vulnerable, empowered, angry

Performance work

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.

Photograph of the artist dancing while nude

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.

Photograph of the artist in conversation with a member of the audience

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.

Photomontage. Top line showing the sculptural elements of X, including voodoo sefirot, sacrifice mat, and instruction leaflet. Bottom two rows are stills from the performance, showing the artist with medium length afro in a black and red leather dress, contorting her body within the confines of an elevator

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

Residencies

Summer Summit performing arts mini-residency, 3-5th September 2019, produced by Milk Presents... at The HopBarn, Southwell, England.

Modelling

Large Format - February 2020

Photographer: Magda Szczerba

Black and white portrait photograph showing me with short bleached hair in a faux fur coat

Marble Teeth - February 2020

Photographer: Magda Szczerba, Designer: Xinjing 'Andrea' Liu & Julia Napoleon Ka, Make-Up: Nikole Migl, Models: Sukhdev Parhar & Talulah Hannah Wright

Photograph of me with short pink hair, wearing white lace facial decals, ornate ruffled and ruched white dress, white tights, and white shoes. Standing on marble staircase

Photograph of me with short pink hair, wearing white lace facial decals, ornate ruffled and ruched white dress. I am palm to palm with a similarly dressed pale skinned, ginger haired model, with a marble backdrop

Photograph of me with short pink hair, wearing white lace facial decals, ornate ruffled and ruched white dress. I am reclining on a marble balustrade, and a similarly dressed pale skinned, ginger haired model is standing in front of me.

Photograph of me with short pink hair, wearing white lace facial decals, ornate ruffled and ruched white dress. I am holding hands with a similarly dressed pale skinned, ginger haired model, and we are sitting on a marble staircase

Photograph of me with short pink hair, wearing white lace facial decals, ornate ruffled and ruched white dress. Behind me is a similarly dressed pale skinned, ginger haired model. We are both lying on a marble staircase

Photograph of me with short pink hair, wearing white lace facial decals, ornate ruffled and ruched white dress. My head is in the lap of a similarly dressed pale skinned, ginger haired model. We are both lying on a red runner placed on a marble staircase

Photograph of a pale skinned, ginger haired model, wearing an ornate ruffled and ruched white dress, sitting on a marble balustrade

Glasgow School of Art First Year Fashion Show - May 2019

Photograph of me on the catwalk with heavy blusher and afro hair. I am wearing a short sleeved light pink top and pleated wide legged cropped magenta organza trousers

Another Man Magazine December 2018 - Flint James McDonald Graduate Collection (Son of a Tinker) - Photography by Furmaan Ahmed and Vasso Vu

Attitude Magazine August 2018 - Photography by Tiu Makkonen

Vlogs and Podcasts

I created the Transition Diaries project in Autumn 2017, shortly after coming out as transgender.

The idea of this project was to publish a weekly video, documenting my thoughts, feelings, and banalities of my everyday life.

Unfortunately, I had to mothball the project over New Year 2018, due to a deterioration in my mental health.

The videos are available here:

I also recorded a podcast on Transgender Faces for the Human Faces website

Speaking

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 1 are now available, as part of an exclusive limited edition of 6 - these would make the ideal Christmas present to celebrate queer black joy!

Your selection is printed at 18 x 12 inches on archival quality sustainable 300gsm hemp, signed, and mounted. It will be shipped 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.

The Past

Qualifications

2017: MFDS - Royal College of Surgeons Ireland

2015: BDS(Hons) - University of Glasgow

2010: MRCS - Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons Glasgow

2008: MBBS - Hull York Medical School

Funding

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

Events Organised

JTG of BAOMS Annual Conference (Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, 9-10/1/2016) - lead organiser

JTG of BAOMS Annual Conference (Baltic Flour Mill, Gateshead, 19-20/9/2014) - assistant organiser

‘Social Media – Post it, pin it, tweet it like a pro’ (Glasgow University – 19/3/2014) - lead organiser

Presentations and Lectures

International

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)

Roles and Responsibilities

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.