Emma Sharples (she/her) is an AHRC-funded PhD candidate with Tate and the University of Cambridge. Her collaborative doctoral project focuses on the British artist and occultist Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988), using Tate’s recently expanded archive to consider how Colquhoun navigated the boundaries between her occult and art practices in the changing contexts of modern Britain and global Surrealism. Emma has presented her research at the Paul Mellon Centre, Tate Britain, the Fitzwilliam Museum, and the Women’s Art Collection, and in 2022 co-convened the British Art Network-funded seminar ‘Curating Magic’.
Alongside her doctoral work, Emma is currently undertaking an AHRC-funded curatorial placement with Tate St Ives, which involves working on a major retrospective of Colquhoun’s work and archive. She has previously volunteered in public programmes at Manchester Museum and in visitor experience with the National Trust. Emma holds a BA degree in History of Art from the University of Cambridge and was awarded her MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art in 2018.
