Cornelia Parker by Iwona Blazwick and Yoko Ono

Cornelia Parker is one of the most thoughtful and profound artists working in Britain today. Exploring everything from ghosts and gravity to relics and the unconscious, she transforms everyday, ordinary objects into compelling works of art. Parker's projects - which have included blowing up a shed, steamrolling musical instruments, exploding a firework made from a pulverised meteorite, and suspending charcoal taken from a church struck by lightning - have captured the public imagination since she first came to prominence in the 1990s.