ALYSIA ANNE: VISUAL ARTIST
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ALYSIA ANNE: VISUAL ARTIST

And just like that, it was over.

6/3/2016

 
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Thank you to the Laing Art Gallery staff for their enthusiasm and help while I experimented with events and installation.  It's been an emotional ride.

Thank you to those of you who spent time with the work.  Be it for 4 seconds, 4 minutes, or 4 hours (apologies to the one that travelled 2.5 hours that they'll never get back, however.)  Thank you to those that left messages of profound emotional moments, and thank you for feeling safe enough to leave them in the comments book.  Thank you to those that met with me in person and shared stories of loved ones lost, I cannot even begin to describe what a privilege it was for me.

This was never supposed to be resolved.  I don't think grief can be resolved.  The nature of my work and the nature of the installation wasn't ever supposed to be a clear indication of what grief was or is, but rather a place to experiment with the profound emotions and memories that grief is unable to reconcile.  I think that if I thought that I had answers, this would have never been a thing and I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing right now.

I remember the way my mother's brow furrowed when she concentrated, but I can't remember the shade of brown her eyes were.  However, I remember my father's deep set blue eyes, but not what his hands looked like.  I can still hear their voices, but only certain phrases.  My mother beckons, "Lee?" and my father sings.  "Don't worry, be happy."  (How I hated that, then!)

If I've learnt anything about grief, it's that it's fussy and it's messy.  It doesn't package up nicely with a neat bow ready to be placed with all the other packages with neat little bows that line the curio cabinet of my mind ("Alysia learns Santa Claus doesn't exist", "Alysia's first kiss", ..."Alysia's first death...?").  I suppose that's what makes death and bereavement so truly complicated, regardless of circumstance.  Someone very important to you is no longer there.  Someone who shaped your reality is missing.  It's a profound shift into a new existence and whether you're dragged kicking and screaming (like I was) or march resolutely forward (like I most certainly did not), it's universally the same: we've shifted.  This move has taken place without my consent and whether or not I like it, this is how things are now.

It's sticky and crumbly.  Shift wasn't an expression of answers, it was a series of conflicted questions, some asked timidly while others boldly, and made room enough to try to understand the unfocussed and often blurry misplaced memories.  The ones that fling far then suddenly snap back in front of you.  The ones that nick you when you're at a café and Janis Joplin starts playing over the loudspeaker.  The ones that inhabit the sun glinting off the window on the Metro car, tricking your eyes into seeing your father.




​
After my father died we were called to the hospital bed where he lay dead.  We mourned him quietly and awkwardly.
I was given a moment alone.  Distressed, I sat beside him and put my hand on his forearm.

​It was still warm.

Exhibition reviews.

28/11/2015

 
I’ve had some really lovely reviews pop up online that I thought I’d highlight here:

From NARC. magazine:
“It might not be the easiest of subject matters, but Alysia Anne’s emotive and powerful works will move you like no other.”
http://narcmagazine.com/news-alysia-anne-shift-laing-art-gallery-newcastle/

From The Courier Online:
“This installation is modest and unassuming; a beautiful, unfocused spectrum. The subtly [sic] in colour, tone and mood can be easily passed by altogether (as I very nearly did) if you don’t take a moment to look, and to really see. Fragmented transitions with each polaroid are severe, ghostlike yet interrupted with block solid dark shapes.”
http://thecourieronline.co.uk/shift-an-odd-or-excellent-exhibition/

and finally, from Morning Star:
“It gently but insistently involves the viewer in its contemplation of loss and sadness and the way we deal with “complicated grief” through strategies of emotional blurring and avoidance.”
http://bit.ly/1Q5f35O


​I’m overwhelmed by the positivity, not only from the above, but through the conversations that I’ve had and the stories people have shared with me. I’m moved by how willing people have been to invest in the installation and reflect on their experiences.

Shift is open.

5/10/2015

 
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Before I begin, I have to start off by thanking the Laing staff and my friends for all their help during the install week.  If it weren't for them, I would have never been able to finish the installation in time for the opening.  Also thank you to everyone who came to the private view on Friday evening, it was nice to see so many friendly faces.  The exhibition is now open until 28 February.

There are two scheduled events so far for the exhibition:

Wednesday, 21 October, 12:30 - Artist Talk
where I will talk about my exhibition and answer and questions and comments.

Wednesday, 2 December, 12:30 - Grief in Conversation with Catherine Gatt
where Catherine and I will start a dialogue about grief and invite the public to take part in the conversation.

Both events are free and take place in the exhibition space at the Laing.  Please come along if you can!

Shift installation.

29/9/2015

 
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HOME.

9/9/2015

 
Shift preparation.  I'll have more details about the exhibition and events soon.

Laing exhibition.

2/5/2015

 
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Laing - What's on.
This exhibition will navigate loss, death, and grief through photographic practice; using damaged and broken equipment as the language of mourning.  Through destruction as a narrative, the exhibition will draw out and identify the seemingly endless melancholia of arrested grief, corrupted sense of self, disengaged memory sequences, and unfocussed wandering.

unseated exhibition.

13/2/2014

 
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Alysia Anne. Heather Baker. Rachel Errington. Sarah Riseborough.

Preview: Wednesday, 19th Feb. 16:00 - 18:00
Open: Thursday & Friday, 20th & 21st: 10:00 - 16:00
Gallery North Project Space, Northumbria University, NE1 8ST

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