Portfolio

She

Alison James. 2022. “She – A Narrative Journey Through Acceptance of the Mental Struggle Mindscape.” Solo Mixed Media Exhibition Shown At Gallery 4017, Brisbane.

1 in 6

“1 in 6 Women in Australia have experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or previous cohabitating partner”
(Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, 2018)

I started crocheting at the beginning of lockdown and when I started, I realised that a lot of crocheted shawls are actually triangles…and what idealises comfort, warmth, love, thought, femininity more than a shawl? All things that we want to be wrapped in when in a relationship with someone.

Yet 1 in 6 women in Australia over the age of 16, will not have that.

6 triangular shawls have been formed here, each one representative of 6 women. 1 has fallen and remains unfinished. What will her story be?

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Who are You Mangrovejane?

“Who Are You Mangrovejane?” was an exploration into reality and self imagery in the online world of Second Life. With the increasing amount of time people spend online, it is important to understand the ways in which people choose to reveal the narratives of their realities. Our online realities are fascinating extensions to our physical worlds.

I chose to approach this project using an ethnographic methodology to explore the ways in which the residents of Second Life presented their images, how they chose to portray themselves through publicly curated images and also how they portrayed the world and the cultural circles they move in. I employed a practice led research methodology to take this knowledge and apply it to my own visual studies, learning to construct and maintain my own digital reality through self-referential constructed images.

This research culminated in a large series of photographic works, video and machinima, digital installation and physical world installations as well as a research paper and conference presentation submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of Master of Art in Visual Art.

Link to video of conference presentation here: https://youtu.be/WCzpKAR3Uhk

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Altered Realities

What if reality was more than what we see before us? If we could alter our reality to be anyone or anything, what would that look like? This exhibit examines the experience of living in an online world and chronicles the journey of an explorer of our altered realities.

“Take this kiss upon the brow!

And in parting from you now,

This much let me avow –

You are not wrong who deem

That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away

In a night, or in a day.

In a vision, or in none,

Is it therefore the less gone?

All that we see or seem

Is but a dream within a dream”

~ Edgar Allen Poe

Temporality and Place

The Quiet Days of Digital Trees

Let’s build something together!

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