Page 24 - Art First: Partou Zia: Portraits Beyond Self

partou Zia

Partou emigrated from Tehran to England in 1970. Aer studying Art History at the
University of Warwick and Fine Art at the Slade School of Art UCL she was awarded
a PhD for her writing and painting by the University of Plymouth in 2001. She lived
and worked in Cornwall with her husband the painter Richard Cook until her death
aer a courageous battle against cancer in 2008.

is photograph by Bob Berry shows Partou in the historic Porthmeor Studios
in St Ives, previously occupied by Borlase Smart, Ben Nicholson and Patrick Heron.
She was the first recipient of Tate’s pioneering residency programme there, in 2003.
e resulting exhibition at Tate was accompanied by an illustrated catalogue,
Entering the Visionary Zone, with an insightful essay by Dr Virginia Button.

To accompany Partou’s first exhibition ought Paintings, at Art First in London,
extracts from Tate’s commissioned interview between curator Sara Hughes and
Partou, about the Residency and its impact on her subsequent work, were published
by Art First.

For her solo show e Grey Syllable in 2005 an accompanying catalogue included
Dr Penny Florence’s remarkable foreword, Paint me an Angel and Blue, the perceptive
essay by Susan Daniel-McElroy, then Director of Tate St Ives.

Partou’s Memorial Exhibition at the Exchange in Penzance took place in December
2008. Dr Penny Florence, author of this catalogue, began her penetrating assessment
of the artist’s achievement during the last five years of her life. Dr Florence has contin-
ued to work on Partou’s writing−the plays, journals and poetry−in preparation for
future publication.