Portfolio Reviews at the Future Now Symposium 2026
These 1-1 sessions, hosted at York St. John University on Thursday 16 July 2026, were for practitioners working across all genres, including painting, photography, digital media, sculpture, video and more. Our industry experts provided essential guidance on how to develop ideas and further artists’ careers, as well as providing insights on funding opportunities and exhibition. Each session lasted 20 minutes. This was an opportunity to get key advice on any number of topics: how to accelerate your practice through digital platforms, how to approach curators and galleries, or simply discussing a portfolio in real time.
Reviewers for Thursday 16 July
Eleanor Sutherland
Aesthetica | 10:30-12:05
Eleanor joined Aesthetica in 2017. As the Creative Producer, she works across the magazine’s print and digital platforms, researching and writing about contemporary art. She loves discovering new creatives and sharing their work with readers around the world. Eleanor strives to make art accessible by using clear, engaging and assumption-free language. She studied Art History & English at the University of York and is passionate about computer science.
Carrie Chan
V&A | 13:30-15:05
Carrie Chan is Contemporary Programme Curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. She curates live programmes, site‑responsive installations and commissions including Wild Digits for Friday Lates, spotlighting UK-based digital arts practices actively shaping the scene, and V&A’s London Design Festival projects, foregrounding digital and material practices. Her practice bridges art, design and technology to animate museum space and audiences.
James Finch
Royal Academy of Arts | 13:30-15:05
Dr James Finch is a curator and art historian specialising in British art of the 19th and 20th centuries. He is currently Senior Curator at the Royal Academy of Arts and has published widely including, most recently, a book on the life and work of painter James McNeill Whistler. Previous roles include Curator, Historic & Modern Paintings and Drawings at the Fitzwilliam Museum, and Assistant Curator, Nineteenth Century British Art at Tate Britain.
Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf
Wellcome Collection | 13:30-15:05
Nephertiti Oboshie Schandorf is a British-Ghanaian producer of site-responsive performance, audio, and moving image in non-gallery contexts. Her practice seeks collaboration and is informed by the formation of protective networks. She serves on the Art on the Underground Advisory Panel and is Engagement and Participation Lead at the Wellcome Collection. She is also a Trustee of Artichoke, and Former Artistic Director of Peckham Platform.
Poppy Bowers
The Whitworth | 13:30-15:05
Poppy Bowers is a contemporary art curator and currently Senior Curator of Exhibitions at the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. She has worked with many artists on several large-scale projects over the years including Alison Wilding, Barbara Walker, Imran Perretta, Isaac Julien, Richard Tuttle and William Kentridge, and is currently working with Yuki Kihara on a new iteration of the artist’s installation exhibition Paradise Camp.
Sarah Coulson
Yorkshire Sculpture Park | 13:30-15:05
Sarah Coulson is Senior Curator and Publications Lead at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Yorkshire. She has curated several major exhibitions and off‑site projects including Saad Qureshi’s museum debut and YSP’s Chapel programmes, and collaborates with both artists and renowned poets on site‑responsive commissions while shaping publications and public initiatives that connect contemporary sculpture with the natural landscape and international audiences.
Taous Dahmani
The Photographers’ Gallery | 13:30-15:05
Dr Taous R. Dahmani is a London-based French, British, and Algerian art historian and a Curator at The Photographers’ Gallery, London, who specialises in photography and contemporary visual culture. She has curated many international exhibitions including Unstable Point at Jaou Tunis Biennale and solo shows such as SMITH at NOUA. She continues to contribute to publications and programmes that explore photography’s political and cultural resonances.
Hadeel Eltayeb
The Design Museum | 14:00-15:35
Hadeel Eltayeb is a curator who explores identity and cultural production. She is Displays Curator at The Design Museum. Past roles include as Associate Curator at The Media Majlis at Northwestern University in Qatar, and Curator and Arts Manager Al Riwaq Art Space in Bahrain. She was a 2019 Research fellow of the British Council at Venice Biennale. She has specialised in oral history projects and art from South West Asia and North Africa.
Hannah Starkey
Artist & Photographer | 14:00-15:35
Hannah Starkey has had numerous solo exhibitions across the world. Her work has been included in Tate Modern, London; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; Turner Contemporary, Margate; Huis Marseille, Amsterdam; Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and The Hepworth Wakefield, amongst others. She has received coverage in The Guardian, The Telegraph and The New York Times, amongst many others.
Dr Ope Lori
PILAA | 14:00-15:35
Dr Ope Lori is the Founder and CEO of Pre-Image Learning and Action, an arts & diversity consultancy. She was a Lecturer at Chelsea School of Arts, Leeds Arts University and a guest Lecturer at the RCA. She specialises in lens-based media, on race, gender and desire in her political practice. She is the author of the boundary-breaking book Beyond the Feminine: The Politics of Skin Colour and Gender in Visual Culture, published by Bloomsbury, in July 2025.
Sadie Clayton
Artist & Innovator | 14:00-15:35
Sadie Clayton is an award-winning artist and innovator who explores the creative boundaries between art and technology. Sadie is fascinated by innovation, has presented work at the Royal Academy of the Arts, Tate and the V&A, and has created content with Adobe films. In 2019, Sadie became the first artist to create works with the robot Ai-Da at Tate Modern, as part of the Tate Exchange’s exploration of new technology and the self.
Eleanor Sutherland
Aesthetica | 16:00-17:35
Eleanor joined Aesthetica in 2017. As the Creative Producer, she works across the magazine’s print and digital platforms, researching and writing about contemporary art. She loves discovering new creatives and sharing their work with readers around the world. Eleanor strives to make art accessible by using clear, engaging and assumption-free language. She studied Art History & English at the University of York and is passionate about computer science.
Griselda Goldsbrough
Visual Artist | 16:00-17:35
Griselda Goldsbrough is a visual artist and writer. She is committed to cultural and creative activity in community engagement projects within heritage, science, museums, galleries and healthcare. She is also Art and Design Development Manager at York Hospital, where she has worked since 2016. Griselda has been involved in the Aesthetica Art Prize for several years, working alongside the team to recognise and champion new talent.
Sammara Abbasi
16:00-17:35
Sammara Abbasi is the former Curatorial Assistant, Exhibitions & Live Programmes, at Modern Art Oxford. Born and raised in West London, she graduated with a BA in Art History and an MA in Museum Studies from University College London, where she worked as a Research Assistant to the Socialist Anthropocene in the Visual Arts project. Sammara has an interest in art, curation, culture and heritage, and has held roles at Whitechapel Gallery.
Sadie Clayton
Artist & Innovator | 16:00-17:35
Sadie Clayton is an award-winning artist and innovator who explores the creative boundaries between art and technology. Sadie is fascinated by innovation, has presented work at the Royal Academy of the Arts, Tate and the V&A, and has created content with Adobe films. In 2019, Sadie became the first artist to create works with the robot Ai-Da at Tate Modern, as part of the Tate Exchange’s exploration of new technology and the self.