Sara-Jayne Parsons is the Director and Curator of the Art Galleries at TCU (Texas Christian University) in Fort Worth, Texas. She promotes professional development of students and local artists through programming in Moudy Gallery and drives the international curatorial vision of TCU’s satellite space, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts. Her curatorial practice is informed by working in close collaboration with artists to produce new art works through commissions, exhibitions and artist residencies. Recent projects include: Yours, in Extraction: Robyn Woolston (2022); Let My Body Eat The Sun: Christie Blizard (2021); and, Caribbean Fantasia: Raphael Barontini (2020).
Previously the Exhibitions Curator at the Bluecoat in Liverpool, UK, Parsons produced a diverse, contemporary exhibition programme from 2006-14. She worked directly with many artists to develop exhibitions and produce new and often site-specific works, including Mark Anstee, Ayman Baalbaki, Jyll Bradley, Gina Czarnecki, Hew Locke, Nicki McCubbing, Janek Schaefer and Emily Speed. During her time in Liverpool, she was also a collaborative member of several curatorial teams working across the city including the Liverpool Biennial; LOOK, Liverpool's biennial international photography festival; and the Liverpool Arab Arts Festival.
Parsons’ critical writing has been published in contemporary art magazines including Exposure, Source, and Art Monthly Australia. She has also published essays in various exhibition catalogues: 150 Years / 150 Artists (2023); Abstract Utility: Buster Graybill (2019); Performing Likeness (2015); Soft Estate: Edward Chell (2013); 3am: wonder, paranoia and the restless night (2013); I Exist (in some way) (2013); Is Britain Great? 3: The Caravan Gallery (2011); and Jyll Bradley: Airports for the lights, shadows and particles, (2011).
Parsons received her PhD from the University of Plymouth UK in 2023. Her thesis is entitled “An accumulation of Care. Affect in the role of the contemporary curator.”