'Felicity Allen is an artist, writer and curator/educator. She is currently producing Begin Again Chronicles (Verisimilitude), an image/text document based on 160 dialogic watercolour portraits with 75 sitters, interviews and written reflections. Recent publications include:
Textual Intimacies: Letters, Journals, Poetry - Ghost Writing Telegraph Cottage, with Simon Smith, The Installation (Intercapillary Space), and Education (MIT/Whitechapel Documents of Contemporary Art). As a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Institute.
Felicity Allen has been working on the implications of feminism for artistic practice and its overlaps with education and employment. She has published several articles about artistic practice and gallery education, and has considerable experience in producing local, national, and international gallery education programmes and teaching in art schools.' - http://www.tranmission.uk.com
Felicity Allens talk mainly focused around her latest piece of work, 'Begin Again' (July 2009 - September 2014). Her book 'Begin Again Chronicles' is made from a series of 150 watercolour portraits accompanied by sort quotes taken from the conversations during the sittings. The sitters themselves feature people she previously worked with at the Tate Gallery. She described this as being a sometimes uncomfortable experience due to the relationship between some of the sitters. She also described how it was interesting to see how people reacted to being a sitter, some seeing it as a quick, formal and quiet process others seeing it as a more social meeting whereby conversation would flow with ease. The title of the work refers to her own personal journey as an artist having worked a full time job to then start using traditional artists materials again.
Looking at her work my biggest question was why two portraits? and why watercolour? My initial interpretation was that she wanted to capture two different sides of the sitter, potentially a reflection of the conversation at the time. Following this idea I thought watercolour was used as to enable her to apply the medium quickly in order to catch said moment in conversation. Later during discussion Felicity Allen explained that she used watercolour as there was something quite unforgiving about watercolour and its something that was quick to use practically during the sittings therefore allowing her to make multiple portraits of her sitters. Allen went on to say that the watercolours played part in capturing and conveying the intimacy of the sittings to the viewers; I also think this, in addition to the text in the book, coveys a sense of fragility in conversation, particularly with those that she didn't initially get along with or found the sitting to be awkward.
Upon seeing the book and reading through some of the text/ quotes which accompany the portraits I found it strange, however, thinking that they corresponded with the portraits and the conversations between Allen and the sitters during painting, reading through them it became quite interesting. I found it intriguing to see what subject the conversations had turned to within such a close environment this made me question whether it was due to the situation of painter and sitter being in such a personal environment and whether this effected conversation and perhaps, had they not been in said situation, whether these themes would even have been spoken about. Later in the talk Allen what on to say that the quotes were random in relation to the imagery. This then began to raise questions of stereotypes in my mind; how quickly we are to associate ideas and imagery with a person after only getting a brief glimpse into their lives.
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