Dr. Nima Poovaya-Smith is one of the country’s most significant people to figure in the recent history of British artists of African and Asian background, having undertaken extensive curatorial projects, research projects and a wide range of other work, much of it in employed capacities such as the time she spent as Senior Keeper, International Arts at Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, she set up the Transcultural Gallery at Cartwright Hall, which is one of the largest and most significant collections of practitioners of South Asian background, some of whom are British-based, though a number are also living and working in countries such as Pakistan. The Transcultural Gallery now houses one of the most significant international collections of Fine and Decorative Arts.
Nima Smith, when Assistant Keeper of Ethnic Collections at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, was responsible for intiating and developing Double Vision: An exhibiton of contemporary Afro-Caribbean art, which was held at Cartwright Hall, Bradford, 8 November 1986 - 4 January 1987. (The exhibition featured work by Tam Joseph, Franklyn Beckford, Amanda Hawthorne, Keith Piper, Debbie Hursefield, Johney Ohene, Gregory Whyte, Margaret Cooper, Uzo Egonu, Lee Hudson Simba, and Madge Spencer.)
Poovaya-Smith was a founding Director of Alchemy, a cultural enterprise company based in Yorkshire, seeking to connect people across cultures, generations and nations. It was Alchemy that curated Crossing the Waters (which took place 1 September - 2 December 2007), one of a number of exhibitions that took place throughout 2007 as part of Freedom & Culture 2007: The Bicentenary of the Parliamentary Abolition of the Slave Trade.
Poovaya-Smith’s previous positions include the Head of Special Projects at the National Media Museum, Bradford, and Director of Arts at Arts Council, Yorkshire.
She was awarded an OBE for services to arts and museums in the Queen’s birthday honours of June 2016.
Catalogue relating to an exhibition, 2007
Announcement relating to an exhibition, 1986
Group show at City Gallery Leicester, Cartwright Hall. 2007
Bradford, United Kingdom
Leicester, United Kingdom