Jo’s first book Totem: The Untold Story of Sculpture was published in September 2026 in the UK by Canongate, and Ecco/Harper Collins in the USA in November 2026. "Beautifully written . . . Baring guides the reader on an exhilarating global journey" Daily Mail . Totem is a New York Times most anticipated non-fiction book of 2026.

Jo is the Director of the Ingram Collection of Modern British & Contemporary Art and in 2016 set up the Ingram Prize. Previous alumni have been nominated for the Turner Prize, and their work acquired for the Tate and Government Art Collection, amongst others.

Jo regularly curates exhibitions and her popular podcast series Sculpting Lives was The Guardian’s ‘Podcast of the Week’ and was picked as a leading arts podcast by The Times, The Royal Academy and The Evening Standard. She is the editor of Revisiting Modern British Art which was called ‘a game-changer’ and writes for museums and national publications. Jo has given talks at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the Tate, the Royal Academy and the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan amongst many other places. She has judged numerous art prizes including ING Discerning Eye, ARTiculation and Write about Art. She has written and presented films for Heni Talks and was a featured expert in the BBC’s Fake or Fortune.

In 2023 Jo Baring was elected as the Frankland Visitor to Brasenose College, Oxford. She is a former Director of Christie’s UK and a graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art and Oxford University, and works with charities and schools to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to fall in love with art.