Artist Bio - Michelle Baharier

Michelle Baharier is an award-winning multidisciplinary graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art and exchange student of the Städelschule Fine Art Academy in Frankfurt, Germany. She exhibits widely and her work is held in both public and private collections including digital portraits in the British Transport Museum. Sound Moves, in the Tate sound archive. Michelle is a recipient of the Glaxo Smith Kline Impact Award and the Julian Sullivan Award for ground-breaking work in the arts.

Michelle’s art addresses the many barriers that she and others face, some due to disability discrimination and prejudice.

‘My artistic practice is strongly influenced by injustice, inhumanity and my everyday experience of disability, addressing barriers and prejudices about dyslexia.’

Her powerful paintings are vibrant, creating emotionally charged pieces, that encourage the viewer to have a dialogue with the images as seen in her recent highly acclaimed solo portraiture exhibition, How Do I Make You Feel?, at The Foundry Gallery in London 2023 which arose from portrait commissions from Disability Arts Online, as was her solo show in 2021 at Sprout Gallery. Michelle’s was commissioned to paint Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and seven other Paralympic athletes for Hoxton’s art wall in 2017, with ‘Vision’ a group of learning disabled artists.

Her powerful paintings are vibrant, creating emotionally charged pieces, that encourage the viewer to have a dialogue with the images as seen in her recent highly acclaimed solo portraiture exhibition, How Do I Make You Feel?, at The Foundry Gallery in London 2023 which arose from portrait commissions from Disability Arts Online, as was her solo show in 2021 at Sprout Gallery. Michelle’s was commissioned to paint Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson and seven other Paralympic athletes for Hoxton’s art wall in 2017, with ‘Vison’ a group of learning disabled artists.

Recently Baharier has been awarded funding from Arts council England, Responsa Foundation, Equality Works, House of Anatta, and others to made her work. She is an artist member of The Bethlem Gallery, and thier Artists collective, The Bookery Gallerie, The sharp Gallery, Invisible Women, South London Women artists, an Ambassador and member of Outside-in and is a blogger for Disability Arts on line. She also works regularly with Vortex-plus a women’s performance arts collective. Her poetry is Published and available in library's and to buy.

Michelle is well known for founding CoolTan Arts, an arts and mental health charity, that won 27 Awards with artist Maggi Hambling as patron. She was famous for its/her Largactyl Shuffle Walks of which she was the co-founder. She ran Midnight Walks that took audience on a vivacious live performance of myth and fact, from the powerhouse to the mad house. CoolTan Arts created a celebration in 2012 bringing to life Charles Dickens stories, Michelle made Miss Havisham's wedding dress, which has been exhibited widely and is available for hire.

Her oeuvre includes colourful and expressive portraits, storytelling, performance, poetry phone drawings and digital/video collages.

Michelle Baharier also takes private commissions for paintings, murals and multiline-media pieces and is available to also run workshops and give talks in commercial, learning and private spaces.

Website: https://michellebaharier.co.uk/