untitled (AB-1039), 2010
On display at housprojects gallery.

I’m looking to create imagery that represents the stickier, darker corners of the subconscious mind—the parts we don’t like to revisit. The odd visual themes recur in my work the way an unpleasant memory resurfaces, continually haunting you. — Alison Brady

My favorite unnerving aspect of her work (you can click through to the gallery or on Brady’s name to see more) has to do with evincing the unnaturalness of hair. It seems like there’s a lot to write about hair: the Gagaian I’m as free as my hair contrasted with the fact that hair is like this dirty dead appendage constantly seeping out of your person to be cut, torn, and removed. Why? Is it a constant reminder of your bodily death? Is it an unconcealable image of the unclean? Or does its ductility mean that there’s absolute freedom in a part of our body that’s not really our body? Hair is very gross-seeming (to me), but it’s also obviously very luxurious. It’s all very interesting.