In Conversation: Dr Jonathan Cleaver and Dr Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani

Join us for a discussion centred around Sukaina Kubba’s work, including the textile histories and objects the artist has consulted and referenced. Dr Jonathan Cleaver will discuss his PhD research into the archive of the Stoddard-Templeton carpet factory archives, now held at the University of Glasgow, followed by a response to the exhibition from art historian Dr Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani.

Dr Jonathan Cleaver is a textile researcher and weaver. Jonathan studied Tapestry at Edinburgh College of Art and gained an MLitt in Dress and Textiles Histories at the University of Glasgow. His PhD, awarded by the University of Glasgow, generated fresh perspectives on the interrelationship of industrial carpet design and weaving technology using the archives of the former manufacturer James Templeton and Company, Glasgow. His research into the cultural histories of British carpet production continues to be informed by his prior professional experience as a Master Weaver with Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh.

Dr. Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani is an art historian and curator specialising in modern and contemporary art of the global diasporas, focussing on the postcolonial histories of African, Afro-Caribbean, Asian and Black British art in Britain and beyond. She received her PhD – titled The Commonwealth of Abstraction: Black Artists in London, 1948-72 from the University of Texas, Austin, in 2019.  As a postdoctoral research associate at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven Connecticut, she co-curated the exhibition Bridget Riley: Perceptual Abstraction (2022).