Nicky Bird
Nicky’s work investigates the contemporary relevance of found photographs, the hidden histories of archives and specific sites. She is interested in a key question: what is our relationship to the past, and what is the value we ascribe to it? Since her practice-led PhD at Leeds University (1994-99) she has explored this through photography, bookworks, the Internet and New Media. In 2008 Nicky received a major Stills photographic commission for the project Beneath the surface / Hidden Place, which is currently touring across Scotland.
Nicky Bird & Jan McTaggart: Foxbar, Paisley Back of Annan Drive, 1977? / Back of Springvale Drive, 2007 From the project Beneath the Surface / Hidden Place 2007-2009
Nicky is delighted to have been selected to be one of the artists in residence at the Glasgow Women’s Library. Residencies have been pivotal to earlier works such as Dimbola Lodge, home of Julia Margaret Cameron (2000), Rhode Island’s Arcade, the oldest Indoor Shopping Mall in the USA (2000/1), and the Scottish historic house of Hospitalfield (2003). Nicky’s publications and artist books include Tracing Echoes (2001), Question for Seller (2006) andGay Interest Beefcake (2008), now in the collection of the International Center of Photography, New York. In varying ways, she is interested in creating artworks that make visible an art process, which incorporates collaborations with people who have significant connections to artefacts found in the archive.
Alongside residencies, exhibitions, and contributions to arts journalism, Nicky has lectured at both undergraduate and PhD levels. She is currently a part-time PhD Co-Coordinator at Glasgow School of Art.
Visit Nicky’s website.
