Watercolour on A4 watercolour 300gsm paper
Watercolour on A4 watercolour 300gsm paper
2022
Watercolour on A4 watercolour 300gsm paper
Watercolour on A4 watercolour 300gsm paper
Watercolour on A4 watercolour 300gsm paper
Watercolour on A4 watercolour 300gsm paper
2023
Cinematography & Editor: Helena Öhman
Sound Design: Rob Bentall (to be produced)
In 2019 the surviving Tiller Girls, representing many different generations of dancers, met up for a reunion in Blackpool—a key home of the troupe. I went along with Helena Öhman, to record the event and talk to the women.
The footage of the event shows glamorous older women, posing, chatting, laughing, negotiating one another, reliving memories, and showing me how to link arms as a Tiller Girl.
Interposed text highlights speech, emphasising the insights and opinions that develop and challenge earlier video works. Black and white archival footage of filmed theatre performances depict Tiller Girl dances giving visual descriptions to pair with the stories.
2021
Video, 12.50 mins
Made from appropriated backstage musical Hollywood films made between 1929 and 1940, Modernity / Power reframes latent power dynamics on the screen through text interventions and foley sound–clips, clicks, clapping, tap-dancing, and breathing. These disruptions draw attention to the labour of the bodies performing and their incredible skills.
Watercolour on A4 watercolour 300gsm paper
Archive
2012
Video, 6 mins 16 secs
Video, 7 minutes
The fifth ‘Scene’ in The Artist, a compilation of five scenes of dancing in my studio.
2011
Video, 4 mins 7 secs
The final ‘letter’ I sent to Kerstin Honeit, as part of our video dialogue ‘Video Letters‘. This later became Scene 4 of the ‘The Artist’, a collection of five videos dancing in my studio.
2017
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, 54 cm x 54 cm
80cm x 53cm
Digital photograph mounted on aluminum with gloss
Performance to camera 15 mins
Part of longer performance by Victoria Lucas
2010
Colour photograph, 30 cm x 40 cm
Performance Conference Paper, 11 minutes
Performance Conference Paper, 11 minutes
Performance Conference Paper, 11 minutes
Performance Conference Paper, 11 minutes
Performance Conference Paper, 11 minutes
2008
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
Recreations of found cigarette cards from 1939, using myself.
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
Series of nine photographs
B&W fibre-based photograph, edition of 5, 51cm x 60 cm
Edition of 15, 20 cm x 25 cm
One afternoon in 2005, I came across a tin full of cigarette cards at a flea market. I leafed through to look more closely at the miniature pin-ups. I noticed the backs of the cards with the dated biographies of the girls on the cards. I selected all the dancers from the tin (there were actresses, models, swimmers and tennis players I rejected, no one in the tin I had heard of before) and bought all of them. As I walked home, I decided to recreate all the photographs using myself as the model. The original cigarette cards were objects to be held, looked at closely. They were private cards to view, collect and exchange. As enclosures in cigarette packs in the late 1930s, it was presumed that these were gifts for a male consumer. Looking at them with contemporary eyes, they look glamorous, innocent, staged and seductive.
Art Encounters (2008)
An audio piece. I recount some formative art encounters, in order to think about what remains of the encounter. The afterwards reflections; did these experiences form the artist I am now? I presented this as part of the Mid-Residency group show at CalArts.
2006
Performance, 8 mins
Just For Fun, an evening of karaoke and performance organised by Robin Close, Scott Webster and Alexis Gotts
Performance, 8 mins
Just For Fun, an evening of karaoke and performance organised by Robin Close, Scott Webster and Alexis Gotts
Performance, 8 mins
Just For Fun, an evening of karaoke and performance organised by Robin Close, Scott Webster and Alexis Gotts
Performance, 8 mins
Just For Fun, an evening of karaoke and performance organised by Robin Close, Scott Webster and Alexis Gotts
Performance, 8 mins
Just For Fun, an evening of karaoke and performance organised by Robin Close, Scott Webster and Alexis Gotts
Performance, 8 mins
Just For Fun, an evening of karaoke and performance organised by Robin Close, Scott Webster and Alexis Gotts
Allie Carr loves dancing. She dances about everyday. If she couldn’t dance she would be depressed. Allie Carr will dance in public tonight as if she was dancing around her house or at nightclubs. She is going to attempt to dance to a mix tape of unknown tunes put together for her by Alexis Gotts. She might not be able to do it. She might freeze. The music might not excite her. She may be rendered static. (I doubt it.) Her friend and long time collaborator Matt Lewis will be on hand to adjudicate. Using his wholly untrained eye, he will officiate whether the music has beaten Allie or if Allie has beaten the music.
2019
70 cm x 35 cm
Giclee photograph on smooth white cotton paper
Performance, 40 mins
Bubikopf is an art history lecture on gender that morphs. An examination of women in the modernity of the Weimar Republic with new opportunities to be independent in the city, to go to art school, perform in cabarets. Weaving together gendered forms of feminine visibility this piece spotlights and speculates women’s entertaining, creative and Avant Garde work.
Performance, 40 mins
Performance, 40 mins
Performance, 40 mins
Performance, 40 mins
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
2020
Giclee print on white cotton rag paper, edition of 5, 84 cm x 84 cm
Edition of 15, 34 cm x 34 cm
Collage on A4 watercolour (300gsm) paper (210 x 297 mm)
Collage on A4 watercolour (300gsm) paper (210 x 297 mm)
Collage on A4 watercolour (300gsm) paper (210 x 297 mm)
Collage on A4 paper (210 x 297 mm)
Watercolour on A4 paper (210 x 297 mm)
Watercolour on A4 watercolour (300gsm) paper (210 x 297 mm)
2018
Video, 16 mins
The story of a 98-year old former chorus girl. In the thirties, Felicity was a Bluebell Young Lady. She toured France, Germany, and Italy until WW2 was declared in Italy. Felicity Means Happiness shows Felicity, telling her stories, and Carr showing Felicity her artworks inspired by 1930s dancers, and footage of an Austrian film Felicity was in. What is conveyed is the connection between the two women as well as the realities of dancing and living independently in the thirties.
Performance, 35 mins
Construction House, S1 Artspace
Choreography by Lucy Haighton
Scarf design by Katy Aston / Fison Zair
Performers: Celia Anderson, Julia Bisby, Jo Dunkly, Liz Searle, Emily Stokes, and Roanna Wells.
Bauhaus Bühnenchor is a live performance that experiments with the girl troupe kickline. Using the kickline as a form with the potential to represent women’s collective and creative force Bauhaus Bühnenchor imagines the experiences of Weimarian female art students and chorus girls as well considering the context of dancing in a troupe today.
2015-6
A4, framed dimensions, 31.5cm x 40cm
Collage with traditional black & white photograph and digital photograph
80cm x 53cm
Digital photograph mounted on aluminum with gloss
80cm x 53cm
Digital photograph mounted on aluminum with gloss
42 cm x 29.7 cm, white matt paper, 260gsm
2014
Blueback paper photographs mounted onto MDF, freestanding in space
Dimensions approx 2 m x 1 m
Performance 4 mins
Three Act Structures, S1 Artspace, Sheffield
Video, 3 mins
Online gallery of photographs taken of book pages
My contribution to Sharon Kivland’s Library Interventions at Leeds College of Art. I rifled through books searching only the racy and erotic pictures and photographing them–always with Sharon’s titillation in mind.
Half-tone screenprint on Keykolour Original Snow White 300gsm paper,
35cm x 50cm, framed dimensions 49cm x 64cm
Edition of 50
One-to-one performance, 4 mins
Wrought, Sheffield
2009
Originally presented as a two-channel durational installation for my CalArts thesis show, re-edited for theatre viewing.
Living on a ranch in the small working-class town of Santa Paula in California, I filmed psychics visiting the ranch to find the hidden stories.
Shop
I’ve listed below editions available to buy. Postage is free within the UK for these smaller items. Please contact me for shipping costs overseas and larger, framed items, at ajc@alisonjcarr.net or alliejcarr@gmail.com.
If you are interested in my other pieces, you can take a look at my Instagram feed, and Price List, and get in touch if anything interests you. Feel free to arrange to visit me in my studio too, I’m in Exchange Place, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S2 5TR. 
The Night
Written in the aftermath of the murder of Sarah Everard, this uplifting novella explores the fraught journey from sexual visibility but lack of agency, through to self-possession and refusal to fear the night. Divided into three ‘selves’ (The Girl, The Showgirl, and The Goddess), the text draws on formative experiences, dreams, and rebellious decisions, and is illustrated with new artwork.
(Content warning: themes of rape/sexual violence)
SOLD OUT
Last remaining copies available through Site Gallery, Sheffield
Ascending A Staircase
An ongoing series of theatre interior photographs. 34 cm x 34 cm, giclee archival prints, Innova smooth cotton high white paper, 100% cotton. You can purchase all four of the theatre prints below for £200, please get in touch with me.
See Price List for the expanded collection of photographs.
All theatre photographs are also available in a larger print edition, 84 cm x 84 cm, edition of 5 available for £700 unframed.
Ascending A Staircase, City Varieties, Leeds, 1865
Edition of 15
Unframed £60
Postage free
Ascending A Staircase, Penistone Paramount, Penistone, 1914
Edition of 15
Unframed £60
Postage free
Ascending A Staircase, Darlington Hippodrome, Darlington, 1907
Edition of 15
Unframed £60
Postage free
A Place To Perform (Because Other Places Were Inhospitable)
Digital print, 260gsm paper, A3 (420 mm x 297 mm) Edition of 14. Unframed £30. Postage free
The Many
Digital print, 260gsm paper, A3 (420 mm x 297 mm) Edition of 30. Unframed £30. Postage free
I Saved You From Obscurity, Others Are Not So Lucky
Multiple of 100 boxes, A5 size, 1cm deep, individually numbered and signed. Each contains a hand dark-room printed black & white silver gelatin photograph produced from a selection of found negatives bought in a flea market in Paris.
Three people outside church
£50
Sale £25
Postage free
Ladies leaning over gate
£50
Sale £25
Postage free
Beach tall lady
£50
Sale £25
Postage free
Beach scene
£50
Sale £25
Postage free
Interior with mirror
£50
Sale £25
Postage free
Interior with drawers
£50
Sale £25
Postage free
Wish You Were Here, Real Photographs (2008)
Hand-printed black & white silver gelatin prints. Recreations of original 1939 cigarette cards. A copy of the reverse of the original card comes with each print.
Mlle. de Bremont
8” x 10” edition of 15
Unframed £80
Postage free
Ginette Vrala
8” x 10” edition of 15
Unframed £80
Postage free
Iya
8” x 10” edition of 15
Unframed £80
Postage free
Jacqueline Ford
8” x 10” edition of 15
Unframed £80
Postage free
Maria Gregor
8” x 10” edition of 15
Unframed £80
Postage free
Erni Erika
8” x 10” edition of 15
Unframed £80
Postage free
Maryse Grandt
8” x 10” edition of 15
Unframed £80
Postage free
Getty Jasonne
8” x 10” edition of 15
Unframed £80
Postage free
Les Girls Portfolio: Ginette Vrala, Jacqueline Ford, Iya, Maria Gregor, Catherine Hamilton, Maryse Grandt
14 ½” x 12 ¼” edition of 6
All six £350
Mlle. de Bremont
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
Ginette Vrala
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
Iya
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
Jacqueline Ford
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
Maria Gregor
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
Erni Erika
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
Maryse Grandt
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
Catherine Hamilton
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
Getty Jasonne
20” x 24” (51cm x 61cm) edition of 5
Framed £900
Unframed £800
About
Redirects to bio
CV
About
Image credit: Laura Page
I have had an art practice since I graduated from my BA (Hons) in 2001. However, I really consider I found my artistic voice much more recently. Following my PhD the process began in which I integrated what I had learned into my work in a lighter touch, intuitive, imaginative way, thus finding ways of working that are self-sustaining and autonomous. My practice has now become a source of solace and inspiration for me and I believe, has become more engaging to encounter.
In terms of the work that I make, my long-standing interest in showgirls informs my practice, which takes many forms: collage, photographs, drawings, video, writing, and performance. I have explored theatres as sites of self-actualisation, through photographing empty theatres in the North and focusing on the stairs that access the stage. Hollywood as a site of avant-garde art as I’m on the trail for Archipenko sculptures that turn up in chorus girl films. In my work, chorus girl troupes are networks of support and community, and strip clubs as spaces of transformation. And dreams are weapons—where I bring images from my own dreams into a context where I explore the risk as well as pleasure of the night. The thread between the works is a kind of breaching of boundaries: between showing-off and reflecting, between exhibitionism and our own interior worlds.
Bio
Alison J Carr is an artist and writer. She studied at the California Institute of the Arts, absorbing both the critical dialogue and the lure of the Hollywood facade. She worked with Leslie Dick, Natalie Bookchin, Ellen Birrell and Jo Ann Callis, developing her critical voice as well as her singing voice (taking singing lessons so that she could sing ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ by Laura Mulvey). Following her soujorn to LA, she returned to Sheffield to do a PhD at Sheffield Hallam University where she had gained her undergraduate degree. Her book, Viewing Pleasure and Being A Showgirl: How Do I Look? published by Routledge in 2018.
Alison has been a Terra Summer Residency fellow in Giverny, France and LoBe Gallery resident in Berlin. She was awarded an Arts Council England ‘Grants for the Arts’ award in 2017. In 2018 she became a Platform / Freelands Art Programme recipient through Site Gallery Sheffield, and a-n mentoring scheme recipient working with the curator, Lucy Day. In 2021 she was awarded ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ grant from ACE in round 9. She was awarded a Jerwood 1:1 grant in 2022 to experiment working with Lucy Haigton, movement artist and choreographer, leading to a collaboration that will be performed at Calm Down Dear performance festival, London, in 2023.
Alison has shown her work in internationally in LA and Berlin, and nationally in London, Sheffield, Leeds, Huddersfield, Manchester, and Blackpool. Highlights include: curating an exhibition at the University of Huddersfield’s Market Gallery and solo exhibitions at Exchange Place, YAS, Sheffield, and Bloc Projects, Sheffield. Commissions include a new performance for S1 Artspace / Making Ways for the Construction House season of events.
Contact
If you wish to contact me, you can email me at ajc@alisonjcarr.net or alliejcarr@gmail.com
New mailing list details coming soon!
Alison J Carr’s work is instantly recognisable. Despite the fact that she works across photography, performance, sculpture, and film, all of her work retains a very particular aesthetic, pulling from theatre sets, the glamour and politics of the showgirl, and her explorations of sites of performance.
David McLeavy, Our Favourite Places
2007
Box 20 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm, photograph 17.5 cm x 12 cm
Card, satin, B&W photograph
A multiple of one of six different fibre-based, hand-printed photographs presented in a red-satin lined box. The photographs are made from negatives found in a Parisian flea market. A central portion of each photograph has been removed with a scalpel.
Box 20 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm, photograph 17.5 cm x 12 cm
Card, satin, B&W photograph
Box 20 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm, photograph 17.5 cm x 12 cm
Card, satin, B&W photograph
Box 20 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm, photograph 17.5 cm x 12 cm
Card, satin, B&W photograph
Box 20 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm, photograph 17.5 cm x 12 cm
Card, satin, B&W photograph
Box 20 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm, photograph 17.5 cm x 12 cm
Card, satin, B&W photograph
Box 20 cm x 13 cm x 2 cm, photograph 17.5 cm x 12 cm
Card, satin, B&W photograph
I saved you from obscurity, others are not so lucky
A found negative is a mystery–has the photograph ever been printed? If so, how big was the photograph, how did it look, were they dearly loved images carried around, prints forgotten at the back of a drawer or large framed photographs?
This piece of work explores the mystery by presenting photographs from negatives found in a flea market in Paris, in a box fit for jewellery, but with a portion of the centre of the image carefully removed with a scalpel. The benevolent gesture of saving these images is conditional.
The hole has other meanings too. By taking out a crucial part of the centre of the photographs, even less is known. The story is unfinished. The hole gives the viewer licence to complete the picture themselves. The photograph is whatever you want it to be.
This piece of work is a multiple and I have produced 100 numbered boxes with one of the six photographs in each.