Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art is pleased to present a talk by Summer Institute faculty Allyson Mitchell on Thursday, July 17th at 7:00 pm in room 3BC55. The talk is free and all are welcome to attend.

Allyson Mitchell is a maximalist artist working in sculpture, performance, installation and film. Her practice melds feminism and pop culture to investigate contemporary ideas about sexuality, autobiography and the body, largely through the use of reclaimed textile and abandoned craft. These articulations have resulted ib a coven of lesbian feminist Sasquatch monsters, a room-sized Vagina Dentata, an army of super genius Holly Hobbies and a woodland utopic library complete with a wishing well of forbidden political knowledge. Her works have exhibited in galleries and festivals across Canada, the US and Europe, including Tate Modern, the Textile Museum of Canada, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Andy Warhol Museum, Walker Art Center, The British Film Institute, Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Ontario.

A survey of Mitchell’s “hand made” animated film and video work recently toured festivals and performance spaces internationally with exhibitions in Dublin, London and Bologna. Until their retirement in 2004, Mitchell also performed actively with the fat performance troupe “Pretty Proky and Pissed Odd”, which is co-founded in 1997. Mitchell recently attended the Canada Council for the Arts International Studio (ISCP) in New York City. She is based in Toronto, where she is an Assistant Professor in the School of Women’s Studies at York University. She is represented by Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects and she runs FAG Feminist Art Gallery with Deirdre Logue.