Cornelia Parker OBE RA

Parker studied at Gloucestershire College of Art and Design (1974–75) and Wolverhampton Polytechnic (1975–78).  She received her MFA from Reading University in 1982 and honorary doctorates from the University of Wolverhampton in 2000, the University of Birmingham (2005) and the University of Gloucestershire (2008).  In 1997, Cornelia Parker was shortlisted for the Turner Prize along with Christine Borland, Angela Bulloch, and Gillian Wearing (who won the prize).

After taking part in an exhibition entitled Excavating the Present in Cambridge, Cornelia Parker visited a Cambridge archaeological excavation where she created and photographed an installation. She describes this work: “Spoon shaped excavation between two pits at Iron Age dig in the Fens. Silver spoon was engraved with ‘buried 31-3-1992’ and buried in one of the pits for future archaeologists to discover.”