Jim Parris

Jim Parris has successfully worked for many years in the world of music and has also collaborated in spoken word, dance, theatre and outdoor arts. In 2021 Jim was awarded a Ph D from the School of Social Work, Community and Care at the University of Central Lancashire for his psychosocial research into traditional African art and aesthetics. His research methods include photo elicitation interviews and the group method of the Visual Matrix. Jim often uses Leopold Senghor’s writing alongside that of Henri Bergson, Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari in dialogue with the animist aesthetic regard of African healers and has recently begun applying data from his research to the topic of traditional African moralities and environmentalism. In addition, Jim is currently developing a large-scale outdoor installation work called The Divination Palace. The piece is inspired by both Yoruba Ifa divination and Igbo architectural painting. The ‘palace’ will equally combine fabrics, movement and music to remind us of our common existential concerns and that we are one of many, a community.