Alison Lam is a neurodivergent, interdisciplinary and socially-engaged artist. Her mediums include porcelain, metals, glass and paper.
Alison explores ideas of grief, discardment and ostracisation, through experimental process-led investigations. She often refers to this process as ‘drawing with her hands’.
Alison has been Artist in Residence at Lauderdale House, a Guest Lecturer at Brighton University, Middlesex University & MASS Sculpture Course.
The needs of her sons required her to take time out of professional work; having entered a challenging time of home-schooling and tackling the Local Authority to ensure the right education provision for her two sons with Autism and complex needs. Consequently, Alison is conversant in the legislation around SEN support and, whilst being challenging, this period has been instrumental in informing and inspiring her work. It is the reason she then went on to study a MA in Fine Art and Social Practice at Middlesex University, London.
The film ‘The notion of the beautifully discarded’ depicts the beginning of her families journey and research of what makes us look again and take time to process, much like that of many autistic families.
The writings of Leonard Koren on the subject of Wabi-Sabi describe the importance of not dismissing anything or anyone. From a different perspective our view of the world and the people in it can be transformed with the ‘greatness that exists in the inconspicuous and over-looked details’.