ABOUT | alexawright

CV

I am a visual artist working across different media including video, photography, installation, bookworks and socially engaged projects. Most of my previous work focusses on what it means to be human, exploring human inter-subjectivity through qualities like vulnerability and empathy. Since the late-1990s, many of my projects have involved interdisciplinary collaboration with medical scientists, computer scientists and engineers, for example with Alf Linney, Professor of Medical Physics and computer scientists at UCL (1999-2010), and with an interdisciplinary team based in Toronto looking at the emotional and psychological effects of heart transplantation (2007-20).

Most of the works are the result of a long period of practical research, which enables me to explore different dimensions of human existence directly, often by interacting or collaborating with people with mental, physical or sensory differences whose personal stories become central to the work. In 2015 I carried out a participatory project at two NHS Recovery Centres for people experiencing mental health crises. From 2021-3 I devised and realised Inside Stories, an Arts Council funded participatory video project in three UK prisons. In 2023-4 worked with respondents to HI-COVE: a scientific study into the effects of Long Covid on Black, Asian, and Arabic communities to create a single screen video work.

My interest has recently shifted towards an exploration of our relationship with the natural world. During a residency at The Museum of Loss and Renewal in rural Italy (May 2024), I began a collaboration with non-human inhabitants of the rural landscape. At Arteles Creative Centre, Hämeenkyrö, Finland (March, 2025), I started work on a new video piece exploring “eco-hauntology”.

My work has been widely shown internationally in festivals such as: Kochi Biennale, India; FILE, SESI Art Gallery, Sao Paolo, Brazil; DaDaFest International, Liverpool, International Women Artists’ Biennale, Incheon, Korea and Athens Photo Festival. Inside Stories, a series of 11 short video diptychs, co-created with participants in three UK prisons, was shown at Saatchi Gallery, London in 2023 and in MK calling, Milton Keynes Gallery, 2024. I have works in a number of public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Wellcome Trust and various Universities.