Carrie Allison is a nêhiýaw/cree, Métis, and mixed European descent multidisciplinary visual artist basedin K’jipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). She grew up on the unceded and unsurrendered lands ofthe 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 Métisancestry, 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 combinedto tell stories of the land, continuance, growth, and of healing.
Allison holds a Master in Fine Art, a Bachelor in Art History, and a Bachelor in Fine Art from the NovaScotia College of Art and Design University. Her work has been exhibited nationally in The TextileMuseum of Canada, Toronto, Urban Shaman, Winnipeg, and Beaverbrook Art Gallery, New Brunswick. She has had solo exhibitions at Mount Saint Vincent University Art Gallery, the Owens Art Gallery, TheMuseum of Natural History, and The New Gallery. She has received grants from Social Sciences andHumanities Research Council, Arts Nova Scotia and Canada Council for the Arts. Allison was the 2020recipient of the Melissa Levin Award from the Textile Museum of Canada, In 2021, Allison received theEmerging Artist Recognition Award from Arts Nova Scotia and was long listed for the Sobey Art Award.Her work has been shown in Canadian Art, Elle Quebec, Esse and Visual Arts News.
