Alison Jackson (born May 15, 1960) is an English artist,

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

, and

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

whose work explores the theme of

celebrity culture Celebrity culture is a high-volume exposure to celebrities' personal lives on a global scale. It is inherently tied to consumer interests where celebrities transform their fame to become product brands. Whereas a culture can usually be physically ...

. Jackson makes realistic work of celebrities doing things in private using cleverly styled lookalikes.

Education

Jackson attended the

Chelsea College of Art and Design Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

in London between 1993 and 1997, and graduated with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art (Sculpture). From 1997 to 1999, Jackson studied for a MA in

Fine-art photography Fine-art photography is photography created in line with the vision of the photographer as artist, using photography as a medium for creative expression. The goal of fine-art photography is to express an idea, a message, or an emotion. This stand ...

at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

(RCA) in London.

Career

In 1999, Jackson created black-and-white photographs that appeared to show

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

and

Dodi Al-Fayed Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em Fayed (; arz, عماد الدين محمد عبد المنعم الفايد, ʿImād ed-Dīn Muḥammad ʿAbd el-Munʿim el-Fāyid , 17 April 1955 – 31 August 1997), better known as Dodi Fayed ( ar, دودى ...

with a

mixed-race Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-ethn ...

love child. The photographs, titled ''Mental Images,'' were part of her graduation show at the RCA. She has used lookalikes to create photographs and films of celebrities in private situations. At the RCA, Jackson won a number of awards including The Photographers' Gallery Award and in 2002, her advertising campaign for

Schweppes Schweppes (, ) is a beverage brand that originated in the Republic of Geneva; it is made, bottled and distributed worldwide by multiple international conglomerates, depending on licensing and region, that manufacture and sell soft drinks. Schwep ...

drinks won gold and silver awards from ''

Campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...

'' magazine. Jackson wrote, directed, and co-produced

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's 2003 series '' Doubletake'' with

Tiger Aspect Tiger Aspect Productions (formerly known as Tiger Television from 1988 until 1993 and also known as Tiger Aspect Films for theatrical films) is a British television and film production company, particularly noted for its situation comedies. Fo ...

. The show won an award at the 2002 BAFTAs. She made a series of

mockumentaries A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

and fake biopics for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

about public figures, using

George W Bush George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd President ...

and

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

lookalikes in a series of staged scenes of their public lives. ''Blaired Vision'', broadcast on 26 June 2007, coincided with Blair's exit from office. Jackson performed a one-woman show, ''Shot to Fame'', in 2018 at

Soho Theatre The Soho Theatre is a theatre and registered charity in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, in London, England. It produces and presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret, across three performance spaces. The the ...

, and ''Double Fake Show'' in 2019 at Leicester Square Theater''.'' Since 2018, she has served as a

Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party and also known colloquially as the Tories, is one of the Two-party system, two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. ...

councillor for the Chelsea Riverside ward on

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...

Art Exhibitions

* 1997 Attix Studio Gloucester Road, London, UK * 1999 The Blue Gallery; "Temple of Diana Show" curated by Neal Brown * 1999 The Royal Festival Hall, London; "Articultural Show" * 1999 The Richard Salmon Gallery, London, UK * 2000 Edinburgh Festival * 2000 Art 2000 London * 2000 The Richard Salmon Gallery, London, UK * 2001 Jerwood Space ; "Mental Images", London, UK * 2002 Paris Photo, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France * 2002 The Musee de la Photographie a Charleroi, Brussels, Belgium * 2003 Female Turbulence; AEROPLASTICS Contemporary; Brussels, Belgium * 2003 ICP International Center of Photography, New York * 2003 Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne. * 2003 'Mental Images on War’; The Richard Salmon Gallery, London, UK * 2003 Le Mois de la Photo, Montreal, Canada * 2004 About Face: Photography and the Death of the Portrait; Hayward Gallery; London, UK * 2004 Photo, London, UK * 2004 Election Year 2004; Julie Saul Gallery; New York, U.S.A. * 2005 Superstars; Kunsthalle Wien and BA-CA Kunstforum, Vienna, Austria * 2006 Mak Museum, Vienna, Austria * 2007 Paris Photo, Hamiltons Gallery, London, UK * 2007 Confidential; M+B Gallery; Los Angeles, U.S.A. * 2008 Starstruck: Contemporary Art and the Cult of Celebrity; The New Art Gallery; Walsall, UK * 2008 Bush with Rubik's Cube Intervention Sculpture; Tate Liverpool Biennial, Tate Liverpool, UK * 2008 Seeing is Deceiving; Hamiltons Gallery; London, UK * 2009 J. Sheekey, London, UK * 2010 Rude Britannia: British Comic Art; Tate Britain; London, UK * 2010 Exposed:Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera Since 1870; Tate Modern; London, U.K. * 2011 SF Moma, San Francisco, USA * 2011 The Royal Family; Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, UK * 2011 Peeping Tom, KunstHalle Amsterdam, Nederlands * 2011 Alison Jackson: Up the Aisle; Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, UK * 2011 Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera Since 1870; Friedman Gallery, Walker Art Centre; U.S.A. * 2013 Anderson Pertwee and Gold, London, UK * 2013 Fondation D’Entreprise Frances, France * 2014 Centre Pompidou, Paparazzi, Paris, France * 2014 Schon Museum, Frankfurt, Germany * 2015 NRW/Forum, Düsseldorf, Germany * 2016 Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden, Germany * 2016 HG Contemporary, New York, USA * 2016 Culture Station 284, Seoul, South Korea * 2017 London Art Fair, London, UK * 2017 Haifa Museum of Art, Haifa, Israel: "AnonymX: The End of the Privacy Era" * 2018, The Royal Academy of Art, 150th Summer Exhibition, London, UK * 2019, Fotografiska, Tallinn, Estonia * 2019 Truth is Dead Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden * 2019 Fake Truth; Westlicht Museum, Vienna, Austria * 2020 Private; Camera Work, Berlin, Germany * 2021 Fake Truth; The Photogallery, Sweden * 2021 Double Take; Coe and Co, Nantucket, Palm Beach * 2021 Truth is Dead; Fotografiska, LA * 2021 True Fictions; Palazzo Magnani, Italy

Bibliography

* Private (2004,

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

; ) *Up the Aisle, (2011, Quadrille publishing) * Stern Fotographie 70 (2012,

teNeues teNeues (pronounced "teh-noy-es") is a publishing company founded by Dr. Heinz teNeues in Krefeld, Germany, in 1931. It is a third-generation family firm and one of the leading book publishers in the areas of photography, design, lifestyle, and t ...

; ) *Private, (2016, published by Alison Jackson)

Television

Jackson has created many TV shows and was the artist and creator behind

2003 series Doubletake, which she created, wrote, directed, and co-produced with

, and for which she won and was nominated for

BAFTAs The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cere ...

. * 2001–2003

UK: advertising campaign. Created concept, devised ideas and photographed * 2002 ''Doubletake''. BBC2. Created, directed, wrote special. BAFTA * 2003 ''Doubletake''.

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

. Created, directed, wrote and produced 6 part series based on ''Mental Images'' * 2003 '' Doubletake'' Christmas special * 2004/5 ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'',

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

* 2005 Channel 4: ''Not the

Royal Wedding ''Royal Wedding'' is a 1951 American musical comedy film directed by Stanley Donen, and starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell, with music by Burton Lane and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner. Set in 1947 London at the time of the wedding of Princess Eli ...

'' * 2005 Channel 4: ''The Secret

Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

'' * 2006 Channel 4: ''

, Rock Star'' * 2006 Channel 4: ''

Sven Sven (in Danish and Norwegian, also Svend and also in Norwegian most commonly Svein) is a Scandinavian first name which is also used in the Low Countries and German-speaking countries. The name itself is Old Norse for "young man" or "young warr ...

: The Cash, The Coach & his Lovers'' * 2007

: ''Blaired Vision'' * 2008

Through the Keyhole ''Through the Keyhole'' is a British comedy panel game show created by the TV producer Kevin Sim and originally presented by Sir David Frost in the studio and Loyd Grossman on location. The location presenter goes around celebrities' houses and ...

guest home owner first broadcast on 28 May * 2009 ITV1: ''The South Bank Show – 'Alison Jackson on Warhol'' * 2010: BBC Historical Series * 2011 & 2012 Sky: ‘The Alison Jackson Review’ * 2012 BBC: Celebrity BitchSlap News * 2015 BBC: ''La Trashiata'' – Opera performed at the Edinburgh Arts Festival

Opera & theatre

* 2015 ''La Trashiata'':

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

, BBC Online and

Odeon Cinema Odeon, stylised as ODEON, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of ...

*2015 Edinburgh Festival, La Trashiata Opera, a 'celebrity' performance opera for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with exclusive screenings on the BBC and Odeon cinemas. *2018-2019 Jackson performed in her own one woman theatre show Shot to Fame - at Soho Theatre and Leicester Square Theater with Double Take Show : One minute Jackson talks anecdotes showing her films and photographs. The next minute she takes people from the audience and transforms them on stage into a 'celebrity’ - Stars in your Eyes style - no talent needed! Ending in a Live Photo shoot and a ‘celebrity’ walk - about - are the fans disappointed or excited with their new ’Star’

References

External links

* * *
"An unusual glimpse at celebrity" (TEDGlobal 2005)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Alison 1970 births Living people 20th-century English women artists 21st-century English women artists Alumni of the Royal College of Art People from Southsea Photographers from Hampshire BAFTA winners (people) Conservative Party (UK) councillors