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Alison Alder

In their own words

Recorded 2022

Alison Alder
Audio: 2 minutes

Posters are what informed my early life, I suppose, about what was happening outside of the mainstream. You know, one example would be that women's issues or feminist issues were not sort of in the Women's Weekly, they were out on the street. Same with First Nation issues, gay rights. I mean, so many things started off as a sort of like a street-based movement, a protest movement. They were part of informing people about protest and action and fundraising events. So they were a big part of my information network.

A lot of the people that I met, who made posters, was [sic] just so sort of well informed about Australian issues and world rights and what was happening, that was not ever in the mainstream press.

For me, they were really important and I just loved the fact that also when people were making posters back then, and still now, they were putting so much care into that work and so much thought about what they were making and the act of making and groups of people making work together as a sort of a confirmation of what you were doing, I suppose, was important. And so, I just love that sort of collectivised action and how that worked back then.

In terms of just their physicality, screen printed posters are just really beautiful; they have an intensity of colour, there's a richness to the way the ink sits on top of the paper and I've never lost my love affair with that.

I mean, I know I could probably make my work digitally, but actually I really don't think they'd look the same. I don't think they'd have the same richness. But I also love the physicality of making and I'm mixing up the colours myself and I'm just mucking around with that. Yeah, I've just never really lost my love affair with it.

Acknowledgements

This recording was made during interviews for the Portrait23: Identity exhibition.

Related people

Alison Alder

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The National Portrait Gallery acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and recognises the continuing connection to lands, waters and communities. We pay our respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and to Elders past and present. We respectfully advise that this site includes works by, images of, names of, voices of and references to deceased people.

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