A l i s o n S h i r l e y

Firstly I would like to acknowledge that much of the creative work represented here, was created on the unceded land of the Dja Dja Wurung people of the Kulin Nation.

I would like to pay my respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge their custodianship and connection

to land, waters and community, throughout Australia.

Alison Shirley the artist, has enjoyed many different aspects of work and creativity. I was surprised to discover that one of my greatest loves is photographing plant life. The reason this was alarming, was because I am not renowned as being a green thumb by any stretch. Actually I am much better known for waiting until a bunch of flowers is wilted and dying before I take any interest in making it my subject. I have long enjoyed photographing the world around me, but it wasn’t until my 30s that I found how much I was gravitating to organic matter. Before I knew it I had a massive body of work and only in retrospect did I realise it was a bit of an obsession. My mother cottoned on early and would bring a bag of old leaves over, to see what I would make of the contents - it felt like Christmas to me! Other preferred subjects are urban landscapes and dance - no surprise there.

My first endeavours into photography were inspired by my father, himself a keen and skilled amateur. He taught me about composition and supported me with the gift of my first 35mm SLR camera. It really took off from there. I studied full time photography when analogue still existed and I learnt to do everything myself: load film, processing, printing, mounting - all from scratch- how to mix chemicals and choose films for different affects, various paper types for black and white and colour darkroom printing. I also would mount and frame - yes make my own frames - using a saw and bevel drill, etc. Good times. Patience.

My movement history began simply by being born (1971) into a landscape that encouraged movement, in times when kids would spend all day outside. In Alice Springs and Tennant Creek I had an abundance of rocks, trees, hills, caves, dry river beds, water holes and old buildings to explore. What bliss. I excelled at gymnastics at a young age and also did Highland dancing. When my family moved to Melbourne I was devastated to leave my outback home. Melbourne was monochrome compared to the NT and it took me many years to adjust. I played a lot of netball over the years and loved to dance in my own time, even joined a rap band as a dancer. I took up the chance to dance through the Rock and Roll Eisteddfods my school entered and every opportunity to be on a dance floor was gleefully consumed. However, my formal dance training began in 1992 at university. I majored in contemporary dance and photography and was certain to attend every class and squeeze all I could from the opportunity to train full-time. I loved it. I also loved choreography and soon became hooked on creating my own pieces. From there I was involved in an ongoing Kabaret Kunst group in St Kilda, then formed my own troupe The Shirley Knots, co-formed The Silver Bullets, created independent dance works, flash-mobs and even returned to study dance/choreography in 2020 and then a Master of Dance in 2022.

I am also a Level 4, APMA Pilates Practitioner with 20 years experience.

Movement is vital - to life, to joy and to healing.