Indira Allegra

Indira Allegra is a multidisciplinary American artist and writer based in Oakland, California.

Indira Allegra
Born
Detroit, Michigan, USA
NationalityAmerican
Education
Known forPoetry, film, dance, weaving, sculpture, assemblage, installation art
Notable work
  • BODYWARP
  • Open Casket
AwardsJoseph Henry Jackson Literary Award
2014

Tosa Studio Award
2018
Artadia Award
2018

Burke Prize
2019
Websiteindiraallegra.com

Background and Education

Allegra was born in Detroit, Michigan and moved to Portland, Oregon in the 1980s. They are of Black and Native American descent.[1] Allegra studied Biology at Yale University in the late 1990s; they received an Associate of Applied Science degree in Sign Language Interpretation from Portland Community College in 2005 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Arts in 2015.[2] Allegra has worked as a sign language interpreter, domestic violence advocate, union organizer, youth educator, and in the service industry.

Art and Awards

Allegra creates art in a variety of genres and media, including poetry, film, dance, weaving, sculpture, assemblage, and site-specific installations. Their work has been featured in exhibitions at the Museum of Arts and Design[3], The University of Chicago's Arts Incubator[4], John Michael Kohler Arts Center[5], Yerba Buena Center for the Arts[6], Mills College Art Museum[7], Museum of the African Diaspora[8], and SOMArts[9]. They have been awarded the San Francisco Foundation's Joseph Henry Jackson Literary Award (2014)[10], the Tosa Studio Award (2018)[11], the Artadia Award (2018)[12], and the Museum of Arts and Design's Burke Prize (2019)[3].

Notable Exhibitions
  • September 2017: Past Presence at Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland was a two-person exhibition featuring work by Allegra and Christopher R. Martin on the topic of politicized trauma in Black contemporary life. Allegra exhibited an iteration of their ongoing Open Casket work, an "immersive digital weaving installation" which uses crepe textiles and audio recordings of grieving families to explore the suffering caused to Black Americans by police brutality.[13]
  • January-February 2018: Allegra performed BODYWARP: Seamstress, a site-specific version of their ongoing work BODYWARP, at The Alice Gallery in Seattle. They explain that BODYWARP "explores weaving as performance and calls for a unique receptivity to tensions in political and emotional spaces....[It] investigates looms as frames through which I as the weaver become the warp and am held under tension." BODYWARP: Seamstress honored the sex workers who were an integral part of Seattle's early economy by examining the history of the building housing the gallery, which served as a brothel during the Georgetown neighborhood's red light district era.[14][15]
  • June-July 2018: For the Art+Practice+Ideas show at Mills College Art Museum, Allegra exhibited another iteration of Open Casket investigating the non-linear nature of grief.[7]
    Installation view of Open Casket IX at Mills College
  • September-November 2018: The Museum of the African Diaspora hosted Allegra for a solo exhibition of BODYWARP.[8]
  • September 2019-February 2020: Allegra performed an iteration of BODYWARP at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center's Even thread [has] a speech exhibition, which featured eight contemporary fiber artists and weavers that have inherited and broadened the work of Lenore Tawney.[5][16]
  • October 2019-April 2020: Burke Prize Exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Design featured Allegra's work as the 2019 winner of the Burke Prize, which is awarded annually to a contemporary artist under the age of 45 working in glass, fiber, clay, metal, and/or wood.[3]
    Installation view of Allegra's work at the Burke Prize Exhibition, 2019

Notable Publications
  • Allegra, Indira (September 5, 2018). "The Pull of Unseen Forces: Stages of BODYWARP". Art Journal. 77 (2): 52–55. doi:10.1080/00043249.2018.1503516.
  • Allegra, Indira (2018). "Praxis Texere (excerpt)". Foglifter Magazine. Vol. 3 no. 1.
  • Allegra, Indira (June 2017). Blackout. California: Sming Sming Books. ISBN 978-0-9985006-2-1.
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References
  1. Ritter-Whittle, Mia (May 11, 2016). "Artist of the Week- Indira Allegra". Stanford University Institute for Diversity in the Arts. Archived from the original on June 11, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  2. Allegra, Indira. "Bio/CV". Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  3. "Burke Prize 2019". Museum of Arts and Design. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  4. "The Petty Biennial". The University of Chicago Arts + Public Life. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  5. "Even thread [has] a speech". John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  6. "Take This Hammer: Art + Media Activism from the Bay Area". Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  7. Swartzman-Brosky, Jayna (April 9, 2018). "Press Release: 2018 Art+Process+Ideas Exhibition" (PDF). Mills College Art Museum. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  8. "MoAD Emerging Artists presents Indira Allegra". Museum of the African Diaspora. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  9. "Press release: But Tell Me What it Feels Like: The Erotic Practice of Liberation". SOMArts. March 27, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  10. Gee, Erika (November 7, 2014). "A Seat at the Writer's Table: Indira Allegra". The San Francisco Foundation. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  11. "Past Awardees". Tosa Studio Award. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  12. "Indira Allegra". Artadia. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  13. "Past Presence: Indira Allegra and Christopher R. Martin". Pro Arts Gallery. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  14. "BODYWARP: a solo exhibition by Indira Allegra". The Alice. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  15. Allegra, Indira. "BODYWARP - Seamstress". Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  16. "Indira Allegra—Even thread [has] a speech". Vimeo: John Michael Kohler Arts Center (Digital video). December 4, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
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