About
Andrea Allan is a Manchester-based artist working across photography, text and book arts. Her work explores the real and the imaginary and the gap between subject and object in an attempt to better understand the links between our past, present and future. By combining photography with the written word she is able to weave past narrative into the fabric of present places, casting old social and political understandings in a contemporary light.
As it develops her work becomes a documentary of our time, phrased in the context of our origins and our future. Drawing upon personal experiences and observations, she pulls together strands and connections between her work and the greater socio-political arena.
Allan was the founder and editor of Entitle Magazine. Originally started as an online photography magazine, it then broadened its interested into other mediums and the role of the white cube within the visual arts, spanning areas such as interviews with galleries, practitioners, looking at the artist book and research into the visual arts.
CV
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Uncommon Ground, Woodhorn Museum, Ashington, 2011
Switch-Foot, Trent Gallery, Newcastle, 2009
GROUP EXHIBITIONS, BOOK FAIRS & CURATED EXHIBITIONS (SELECTED)
‘Ashes for Ash’, Work Show Grow, SOLAR Photo Festival, Brazil, 2022
(Re)Production: Parenthood and the art world, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK, 2022 Curated
‘Ashes for Ash, Work Show Grow, Arles, 2022
The Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2021
209 Women, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, UK, 2019
209 Women, Portcullis House, London, UK, 2018
Bound Book Fair, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, UK, 2017 & 2018
PAGES:21st International Contemporary Artist Book Fair, Leeds, UK, 2018
Baltic Book Fair, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK, 2017, 2018 & 2019
Fruitmarket Book Fair, Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK, 2018
Shortlisted for Athens Photo Festival, Greece, 2018
the Village, Photograd, University of Sussex, UK, 2017
Lost In Taboo, Soul Searching, Dewsbury Museum, UK, 2016
the Village, NEPN Photobook Market, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK, 2014
the Village, End of the Beginning, Holden Gallery, Manchester, UK, 2014
Letters, Think/Classify, Federation House, Manchester, UK, 2014
Fading Days, Deck the Walls, Opus Fine Art, Stow-on-the-Wold, UK, 2012
Only Connect, Luton Hoo Walled Garden, Luton, UK, 2011
Uncommon Ground, Summer Show, Opus Fine Art, Newcastle, UK, 2011
Only Connect, Answer on the Front of a Postcard, Opus Fine Art, Newcastle, UK, 2011
The Romance of Strangers, Viewfinder Gallery, London, UK, 2010
The Romance of Strangers, Biscuit Factory, Newcastle, UK, 2009
The Romance of Strangers, Reg Vardy Gallery, Sunderland, UK, 2009
GUEST TALKS
(Re)Production: Parenthood and the art world, online symposium, chaired, 2022
Don’t give up the day job, Redeye, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester Craft & Design Centre, Manchester, 2018
A photographic dialogue between book and exhibition, Hard Focus Symposium, Manchester, 2016
the Village, Hothouse, Redeye, Manchester, 2014
The Romance of Strangers, ASA Slideshow, Newcastle, 2011
EDUCATION
MA Photography, Distinction, Manchester School of Art, 2013 -2014
BA (Hons) Photography, Video and Digital Imaging, 2:1, Sunderland University, 2006 - 2009
AWARDS / RESIDENCIES
Arts Council England Project Grant, 2022
Luton Hoo Walled Garden, Luton, 2011
PUBLICATIONS
209 Women, The Bluecoat Press, 2019, ISBN: 190845752X
Entitle Newspaper, newspaper circulated during The Great Exhibition of the North, Newcastle, UK, 2018
More than Gender, Oh Comely Magazine, Issue 35, 2017
The Romance of Strangers, Entitle Magazine, Issue 1, 2011
The Romance of Strangers, F-Stop Magazine, Issue 39, 2011
Stranger Stories, Viewfinder Gallery Exhibition Catalogue, 2010
The Romance of Strangers, Living North, Issue 89
The Romance of Strangers, JAM, Exhibition Catalogue
Switch-foot, Drift Surfing Magazine
COLLECTIONS
The Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn, USA
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
Hellenic Centre for Photography, Athens, Greece
Private Collections
Organised Events
(Re)Production: Parenthood and the art world, online symposium, curated exhibition and publication commission, UK, 2022
Entitle Newspaper, newspaper circulated during The Great Exhibition of the North, Newcastle, UK, 2018
Don’t give up the day job, Redeye, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester Craft & Design Centre, Manchester, 2018