Roxana Allison is one of the winners of the British Journal of Photography Portrait of Britain Vol. 6, 2024.

Roxana Allison (b. 1980, Manchester, UK) is an award-winning Mexican-British photographer whose work is strongly influenced by her mixed cultural upbringing. Through documentary photography and portraiture, she is particularly interested in working with underrepresented communities and revealing stories that often go unseen. Her projects engage with themes of place, home and community. Allison develops self-assigned slow-form projects and commissions, alongside working in higher education. 

Allison has worked in the fields of photography and education for the past fifteen years and has extensive experience working with young people and underrepresented communities. Her series Uncovering the Invisible: A Portrait of Latin Americans in the UK, commissioned by The University of Nottingham and supported by the AHRC, was exhibited in London City Hall as part of The Mayor of London’s public programme in 2014 attracting marginalised groups and ethnic minority audiences, and toured to other important venues across the UK.

In 2018 Allison was recipient of The National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance Bursary and a grant from The Digital Women’s Archive North to publish the book entitled Operation Jurassic, a collaborative photographic series raising issues on freedom of expression and justice through her familial experience of imprisonment.

Among the organisations and institutions Allison has collaborated with are Redeye: The Photography Network, Impressions Gallery, Open Eye Gallery, The University of Bolton, Manchester Art Gallery, HOME, Manchester Metropolitan University, The Travelling Heritage Bureau, Manchester City Council and Community Arts NorthWest.

Allison was one of the 24 female photographers selected on the year-long Trace Mentorship Programme run by Sian Bonnell, Seba Chaudhry and Haley Morris-Cafiero.

View my CV here.

Instagram: @roxanaallison

Twitter: @RoxanaAllison_1

Contact

roxallison@gmail.com

Awards & Grants

• Winner, The British Journal of Photography Portrait of Britain Vol. 6 Award, 2024 
• Neighbourhood Investment Fund, ManchesterCity Council, 2023
• National Criminal Justice Arts AllianceBursary Scheme, 2018
• Officefor Cultural and Scientific Affairs (Embassy of Spain), 2015
• AHRC(University of Nottingham), Uncovering the Invisible, 2014

Publications

• Portrait of Britain Vol. 6, Bluecoat Press, 2024
• Hope. Despair. Miracles., MCC, 2023
• Out Loud, Work Show Grow, 2022
• Migrantes Valientes, Undocumented Press, 2022
• Moral Turpitude, Undocumented Press, 2021
• United, Work Show Grow, 2021
• Nuart Journal, 2020
• WordPlay Magazine, 2019
• Operation Jurassic Book, ThePavement Studio, 2018
• Prison Photography, www.prisonphotography.org, 2018
• Thread Bearing Witness, Alice Kettle Exhibition Catalogue, 2018
• Do Mix Meh Up, The Oxford Diasporas Programme, 2015
• Uncovering the Invisible, The University of Nottingham, 2014

Education

• MA - Photography / Distinction: The University of Bolton, UK, 2019 - 2020
• BA - Fine Art / First Class (Hons): Faculty of Art & Design, Mexico,  2000 - 2004

Informal Education

• Trace Mentorship Programme 2022-2023
• Work Show Grow, Online, 2020-2022
• Fine Art Large Format Black and White Printing - Selenium Studio, Mexico City
• Photographic Conservation - National School of Conservation, Mexico City

Exhibitions

• Waterside Gallery, 2024
• University of Bolton, 2023
• HOME, Manchester
• Impressions Gallery, Bradford
• The Cervantes Institute Manchester
• Aston University, Birmingham
• London City Hall
• University of Exeter
• Lakeside Gallery, Nottingham
• Stella Dore Gallery, Hastings
• Manchester Art Gallery
• Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester
• Neo Gallery, Bolton
• University of London
• Park Theatre, London
  

Artist Talks

• Manchester Metropolitan University
• Work Show Grow
• Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool
• Miniclicks, Leeds
• Redeye, Manchester
• The University of Manchester
• Impressions Gallery, Bradford
• The Cervantes Institute, Manchester
• The University of Bolton, Greater Manchester
• Snappy Valley, Todmorden
• The University of Exeter
• Gateway College, Leicester