Nima Poovaya-Smith

Nima Poovaya-Smith
OBE
Born1953 (age 71–72)[1]
NationalityBritish and Indian
Occupation(s)Curator, art historian, writer

Dr Ammanichanda Nima Poovaya-Smith OBE is a museum curator, art historian and writer. She is known for her work on transcultural and post-colonial South Asian museum collections in Bradford.

Early life and education

Poovaya-Smith was born in Coorg in Karnataka and was educated in Belgaum.[2][3] Her father worked in the silk industry and her mother was artistic.[2] Poovaya-Smith studied for a PhD in English Literature at the University of Mysore.[3] Poovaya-Smith came to Britain in 1981 to study at the University of Leeds.[3][4] Her original research interest was Margaret Atwood.[2]

Career

Poovaya-Smith was appointed curator at the Cartwright Hall civic art gallery in Bradford in 1986 "with the remit of building up, and displaying, a collection of art from the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent".[5][6][7][8] At that time she was one of very few Black and Minority Ethnic people working in museums in the UK.[9] She has said that "if these works [by Black and Asian artists] are not captured in public collections then there’s going to be a huge distortion of history".[8][10]

Poovaya-Smith developed the Transcultural Galleries at Cartwright Hall, which in 2008 became the Connect galleries.[11] Her aim was to attract South Asian people to the galleries.[12] She described the Transcultural Galleries as "the first non-colonial exhibition of its kind in the country".[6] She held the post at Cartwright Hall until 1998, and developed "one of the most significant collections of contemporary art in the UK by artists from south Asian, African and Caribbean heritages".[1][2] Exhibitions included one on calligraphy, Speaking Art, and another on Sikh art and culture, Warm, Rich and Fearless (1991).[13][14] The displays were noted for their difference from traditional museum formats: "thematic, non-hierarchical, non-linear".[15]

In 1998 Poovaya-Smith became Director of the Arts Council Yorkshire.[2] She held that post until 2002.[2]

From 2002 to 2004 Poovaya-Smith was head of special projects at the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television in Bradford.[2][16]

She runs an arts company, Alchemy Anew.[2][17] She has also written poetry for performance.[18]

In 2020 a textile exhibition at Two Temple Place included work collected by Poovaya-Smith.[1][19]

Poovaya-Smith was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to Arts and Museums in Yorkshire.[20]

In 2020 she became one of the Deputy lieutenants of West Yorkshire.[2]

In 2022 Poovaya-Smith published a book of poetry, The Wild Cats Compendium.[21]

Personal life

Poovaya-Smith is married to Paul Smith, a sociologist.[3]

Publications

  • "Exhibitions and audiences: catering for a pluralistic public", in Museum Languages, Objects and Texts, ed. Gaynor Kavanagh (1991)
  • Warm and Rich and Fearless: A Brief Survey of the Sikh Culture: a Catalogue Produced to Accompany the Exhibition Warm and Rich and Fearless, an Exhibition of Sikh Art, Cartwright Hall (9 March - 2 June 1991), with Khushwant Singh and Kaveri Ponnapa (1991)
  • "Confessions of an Indolent Curator", Kunapipi, 19(3), 1997
  • "Making Culturally Diverse Histories", with Nick Merriman, in Making Histories in Museums, ed. Gaynor Kavanagh (2005)
  • The Wild Cats Compendium (2022)

References

  1. ^ a b c Spence, Rachel (27 February 2020). "A London exhibition takes the history of textiles out of the shadows". The Financial Times. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Belliappa, C. P. (13 February 2014). "C.P. Belliappa interviews Dr Nima-Poovaya Smith, founder of Alchemy, involved in promoting art in UK". Coorg Tourism. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Belliappa, C. P. (3 April 2020). "Mysuru-based Dr. Nima Poovaya-Smith appointed as Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire County in UK". Star of Mysore. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  4. ^ Poovaya-Smith, Nima (1995). "An intelligent inquiry: Nima Poovaya-Smith reports on her journey to Pakistan and its contemporary art". Women's Art Magazine (63). Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  5. ^ Macdonald, Sharon J.; Carbonell, Bettina Messias (23 April 2012). "Museums, National, Postnational, Transcultural Identities". Museum Studies: An Anthology of Contexts. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 273–283. ISBN 978-1-4051-7381-0. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  6. ^ a b Macdonald, Sharon (18 July 2013). Memorylands: Heritage and Identity in Europe Today. Routledge. pp. 175–. ISBN 978-1-135-62872-7. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  7. ^ Poovaya-Smith, Nima (1997). "Confessions of an Indolent Curator". Kunapipi. 19 (3). Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  8. ^ a b Ramaswamy, Chitra (30 July 2018). "Whoever Heard of a Black Artist? Britain's Hidden Art History review – a powerful picture of whitewashing". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  9. ^ Figueiredo, Deirdre (17 April 2014). "My Gurus". Arts Professional. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  10. ^ "Speech Acts// A Hidden Art History". MAGnet. Manchester Art Gallery. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  11. ^ Innocenti, Perla (22 April 2016). Migrating Heritage: Experiences of Cultural Networks and Cultural Dialogue in Europe. Taylor & Francis. pp. 82–. ISBN 978-1-317-09648-1. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  12. ^ Carbonell, B. M. (2012). Museum Studies: An Anthology of Contexts. Wiley. p. 279. ISBN 978-1-4051-7381-0. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  13. ^ Sandell, R.; Nightingale, E. (2013). Museums, Equality and Social Justice. Museum Meanings. Taylor & Francis. p. 187. ISBN 978-1-136-31869-6. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  14. ^ Brown, A. K.; Peers, L. (2005). Museums and Source Communities: A Routledge Reader. Taylor & Francis. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-134-46378-7. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  15. ^ Lang, C.; Reeve, J. (2016). The Responsive Museum: Working with Audiences in the Twenty-First Century. Taylor & Francis. p. 235. ISBN 978-1-317-01789-9. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  16. ^ Minwalla, Shabnam (5 May 2002). "'Culture can be used as a driver for economic change'". The Times of India. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  17. ^ "Sharing the art of Islam". The Telegraph and Argus. 20 December 2005. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  18. ^ Hutchinson, Charles (20 March 2014). "Love Beyond Measure: The Legend Of Sohni And Mahiwal, National Centre for Early Music, York, March 20". The York Press. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  19. ^ Judah, Hettie (31 January 2020). "A tangled, teasing show: Unbound: Visionary Women Collecting Textiles – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  20. ^ "Order of the British Empire". The Gazette. 11 June 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  21. ^ Lomax, Claire (9 September 2022). "First book of poetry by Dr Nima Poovaya-Smith celebrates her profound curiosity about wild cats". Ilkley Gazette. Retrieved 25 November 2022.