Nancy Naked — Artist Statement by Alison Friday

 

(My art revisited)

Intro

I’ve spent years trying to define myself through artist statements — always searching for the right words, the right angle, the right explanation of who I am and why I make what I make. I don’t bother with that anymore. I am my own muse. My work comes from lived experience, instinct, memory, and the objects that have followed me through my life.

Still, I thought I’d share the statements I’ve found along the way — the fragments, the attempts, the versions of me that tried to pin myself down. They’re part of the story too.

Nancy Naked — by Alison Friday

Last modified:26/03/24

This work is about the exploitation of women through a lens. A lens with no filter. In a world obsessed with filters — apps, beauty industries, the male gaze — we’re flooded with flawless expectations. Our phones, adverts, billboards, all pushing an impossible standard. It’s no surprise so many women carry body dysmorphia like a shadow.

As an artist, I move between mediums. Dolls — especially the 1970s Nancy types — vintage toys, flowers. I draw, collage, stitch. I use whatever material speaks the truth of what I’m trying to show.

My art sits between the dark and the light, but mostly the dark side of my inner child and the memories that shaped me. I use vintage toys to say what needs to be said — to expose, to reveal, to confront. They become stand-ins, witnesses, characters, symbols. They hold the story when words don’t.

Nancy Naked is part of that world: A doll stripped of her innocence, placed under a lens that has judged women for generations. She becomes the commentary — the critique — the reminder of how easily the female body is consumed, distorted, and sold back to us.

This work is my way of reclaiming the narrative. No filter. No perfection. Just truth.