Alison Bigon

 I am a classically-trained actress, theatre director and visual artist, known for my method of making abstract portraits that depict the real-life stories of my sitters. 

     Following an initial interview, a dialogue between me and my subject can last up to several weeks. I thereafter spend days in my studio translating their emotions into a graphic vocabulary of finely-detailed works on paper. These works are mainly rooted in the technical, and traditional methods of engraving, including dry point, burin, etchings, and embossing, and then hand-finished using watercolour, pencil and pen-and-ink. I also utilise a range of mediums to further construct their stories, for examples, video, engraving, drawing, painting and writing. Each unique piece is often accompanied by a video recording, or poetry, where I take on the persona of the subject and perform a monologue based on their story.

     The overall aim of this approach is to archive the individual stories of my sitters, and in doing so, provide them a “nurturing” place in history. It is my goal that in adopting a combined approach, it allows both myself and the material to be at service of the story being told, and thus, feed an emotional database, a type of anthropological work that requires a mnemonic approach. 

     For me, all these « loose notes of sorrow » are above all a return to more empathetic art forms, which are crucial in society.