AHRC Early Career Research Fellow

Siôn Parkinson is a visual artist, composer, performer, and writer investigating our sensory relationship with the more-than-human world, especially fungi.

Siôn joined RBGE in January 2024 as an Early Career Research Fellow. His two-year study, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), is titled Fragrance in the Fungarium: A Creative Approach to the Olfactory Heritage of Mushrooms.

Originally trained as a sculptor at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and The Slade School of Art (both London), he received his PhD in sound studies from the University of Leeds, where he was an Amanda Burton Scholar.

Alongside his own art and music practice, Siôn worked for over fifteen years as an exhibition curator and producer for institutions including: Cape Farewell, the Institute of Contemporary Arts (both London), and An Tobar (Isle of Mull). He was also the inaugural creative director of the Dundee Design Festival from 2016-2018. 

Research interests

• The role of artists embedded in cultural and heritage institutions, and creative approaches to working with plant and fungi collections.
• The cultural history of mushrooms, notably the dune stinkhorn (Phallus hadriani), including early mycological literature and mushroom illustrations.
• The history and philosophy of the senses, with an emphasis on sound and smell — particularly unpleasant smells from the past.
• The printed works of English artist and naturalist James Sowerby (1757-1822).
• New ways of working collaboratively across disciplines to identify, preserve and communicate intangible heritage.

Publications

• Stinkhorn: How Nature’s Most Foul Smelling Mushroom Can Change the Way We Listen. London: Sternberg, 2024.

Links

• Fragrance in the Fungarium
• Personal website
• The Smell of Scotland: Botanical Smellscapes workshop
• Follow Siôn's blog on Botanics Stories
• Read more about Plant Humanities research at RBGE

Contact

sparkinson@rbge.org.uk