Tiffany Parbs

Australian conceptual jeweller Tiffany Parbs’ body of work smother explores motherhood and the body. Women’s bodies have always been a political playground for others to cast a critical eye, opinions, labels, restrictions and assessments abound aplenty. Motherhood steps this up a notch. The adult body as a playground is explored through the work slope.

"My practice explores a worn body. I am fascinated with the way bodies are lived in, how they wear and are embellished over time, and how these processes are documented and defined through socialisation and the media.

"I am primarily motivated by expanding public perceptions and awareness of jewellery, examining the dialogue between body and object, capacity for transference of meaning and the potential for jewellery as a medium to reflect a changing social narrative."

Tiffany Parbs is a conceptual jeweller. Her practice explores a worn body, highlighting discrepancies between the shifting body narrative and media representational frameworks. As part of this process she observes herself and others; how people live within their skin, communicate value and present a sense of self to others.

Tiffany fosters innovation and experimentation in her practice, actively seeking to promote expanded definitions of jewellery to challenge and extend perceptions of the medium. In 2018 she was named as a Creator through Creative Victoria's inaugural Creators Fund recognising innovation in contemporary practice and awarded Australia Council for the Arts funding for smother, a solo project exhibited at Craft Victoria in Melbourne. She has undertaken numerous artist residencies and continues to exhibit widely nationally and internationally, with recent exhibitions including The Language of Things at The Dowse Art Museum, New Zealand (2018); Masked at Holding House, Detroit (2017); Melbourne Now at the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (2014) and Unexpected Pleasures; the Art and Design of Contemporary Jewellery at the Design Museum, London (2013).

Tiffany’s work is represented in the Modern Jewellery Collection, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections, Manchester; Rare Books Collection, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne, and private collections and is referenced in contemporary jewellery publications worldwide.

Image: Tiffany Parbs, Slope, 2018. Photo: Tobias Titz.

Slope, 2018
Stainless steel, silver rag paper, gator board. 1170 x 390 x 1560 mm.
Price: $8,700

Photography by Tobias Titz
Metalwork by Daniel Schütt