B.1986
Carrie Allison is a nêhiýaw/cree, Métis, and mixed European descent multidisciplinary visual artist based in K’jipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). She grew up on the unceded and unsurrendered lands of the Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:ḻōand Səl̓ílwətaʔ/ Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəyə̓m (Musqueam) Nations. Her maternal roots and relations are based in maskotewisipiy (High Prairie, Alberta), Treaty 8.
Situated in K’jipuktuk since 2010, her practice responds to her maternal nêhiýaw/Cree and Métis ancestry, thinking through intergenerational cultural loss and acts of reclaiming, resilience, resistance, and activism, while also thinking through notions of allyship, kinship and visiting. Her practice is rooted in research and pedagogical discourses. Allison’s work seeks to reclaim, remember, recreate and celebrate her ancestry through visual discussions often utilizing beading, embroidery, handmade paper, watercolour, websites, QR codes, audio, video and animation. Old and new technologies are combined to tell stories of the land, continuance, growth, and of healing.
Allison holds a Masters of Fine Arts, a Bachelor in Art History, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. Her work has been exhibited nationally in The Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, Urban Shaman, Winnipeg, and Beaverbrook Art Gallery, New Brunswick. She has received grants from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Arts Nova Scotia and Canada Council for the Arts. Allison was the 2020 recipient of the Melissa Levin Award from the Textile Museum of Canada. In 2021, Allison received the Emerging Artist Recognition Award from Arts Nova Scotia and was long listed for the Sobey Art Award in 2021 and 2024.
