I met Alison Berkey last week because she is attempting to get into illustration after raising her family. It is not easy for someone to put one part of their lives on hold while they tend to another. Berkey’s story is not new. This year two of her portraits were accepted into the American Illustration annual and she came to New York for the annual AI-AP fete. I met her while she was making the rounds to show her work. I was impressed by what I saw—a carnivalesque vivacious quality to her singular vision. I wanted to know and see more. That’s when she pulled out a piece of fabric on which she printed a portrait of Zohran Mamdani. She told me she had made it as a party dress in a style clearly inspired by India. I was intrigued to know more about her story …
Berkey’s father was an upper atmospheric physicist who bounced his family around the very Northern hemisphere, from Alaska to Norway to Canada, eventually landing in Utah. Berkey earned a BFA from USU and moved to Taipei to teach English. After a while, she went on vacation in India, where “I just stayed for eight years,” she says. “My time in India was spent in observation, immersion and a little side acting in Kollywood, the Tamil version of Bollywood. I met my husband and we married in a traditional Hindu ceremony.” After her stay, she relocated to the Pacific Northwest to start a family.
Below, she tell us more.
How did living in India influence your art?
During my time in India, the world was changing so. This was before the iPhone and at the cusp of the cell phone, roll out of the internet and the reality of 9/11. In my village surroundings, art felt too self-aggrandizing when people were merely trying to survive. I lived in a stone carving village under the shadow of such a rich artistic heritage that my personal drive to become an artist felt quite insignificant. The sound of stone chipping reverberated all around, but the sculpture was primarily done as it had been done for millennia before. There did not seem to be room for the individual voice. Not mine, at least at that time; my time would come later, after the sights, colors, smells and sounds were but a memory.
How did you find yourself in the illustration universe?
It seems that I have fallen into illustration as an act of political activism. I began drawing as a response to our times. As a mother in a mixed-culture family, I need to use my voice as powerfully as possible, for my children’s future. I found that drawing these portraits was the most radical thing I could do. The portraits engage the viewer in thought and spark conversations, and with that the hope is healing our immense divide.
My reaction to No. 45 got me drawing him in a series of dictator suits; they were quite elaborate and ranged from an Imperial Wizard (KKK) to Qaddafi-inspired regalia to an Idi Amin–flavored style to Mussolini-type gear. Yet with each style their medals were imbued with Trumpesque lingo and symbolism. On a whim I entered these into the 3×3 International Illustration show and received a couple merit awards. From there I began to further express my frustration with headlines in focusing on drawing political portraits. I joined the 3×3 Collective and am still actively trying to find a voice in the illustration world.
Why did you decide to do wall-sized portraits and caricatures?
I initially leaned into drawing the most obnoxious characters but have since taken to depicting the most captivating and those who I feel need to be more understood. I try to offer a rendering of the person which could offer insight as to why or how they got to be the way they are. It is my belief that through mutual understanding, we can respect each other and from there try to find common ground.
I always try to do a deep dive into the people I portray, to bring out some unknown part of their story. I feel obligated to really learn about them during my drawing. For instance, I did Tucker Carlson juxtaposed in front of a wallpaper of sliced lemons. I had read that his mother was an artist; she had done a series of coffee tables of sliced lemons. I depicted the lemons to question if that maternal relationship or lack of helped form the man he is now.
I think it may be powerful to see these faces that rule us, larger-than-life format on a wall. I have shown them in smaller grouping, in a sort of family portrait wall setting. It was impactful to see them together. What was really nice was to watch the viewer’s face and hear as they shyly began to mumble their grievances. We are living in a time where we question our freedom of speech! As an artist, there is nothing more essential than creating art as an act of defiance in this age. We are living in extraordinary times.
Previously, I had considered myself a sculptor, as I had been working in painted papiér mâché sculpture making bas relief paintings. It would never have occurred to me to paint “flat” paintings. It was not until two years ago that I painted my first “flat” canvas.
My illustration work on the iPad was the bridge that brought me to painting. My paintings are done in acrylic paint and seem to be increasingly getting larger in scale. This summer I discovered the drop cloth and am thrilled at the opportunities that this format offers. I am so excited to go big and get bigger and have visions of installation pieces coming to fruition.
So funny, looking back I started painting large cardboard signs of world leaders in university and now, so many years later, I find myself right back where I began.
Tell me about your process.
I find myself working between sculpture, illustration and painting. Each process being entirely different from the other in execution. I find that the iPad makes a nice springboard from illustration to painting. Right now, I still feel a distance between the illustration and the painting, but eventually I am hoping to blend the two. Sculpture is entirely different from the two, but always seems to come back to me. I find it to be such a liberating process. No rules, and every possibility in every way.
India most definitely influenced me as an artist. Not only did it tame me creatively at that time, but India made me understand that before I created, I had so much more to learn, to see and absorb. Anyone who has been to India knows that they love it or hate it. I loved it and have so many friends, stories, scenes and visions from that time that are now starting to reveal themselves.
How was your Mamdani skirt made?
The Mamdani skirt was sort of accidental. Even on the West Coast, everyone was excited for his nomination. In planning to visit NYC to attend the AI-AP Annual party, I thought what better way to celebrate this paradigm shift than to make a skirt honoring this time. I used a portrait that I had drawn and manipulated it into a fabric pattern. I have always been drawn to West African wax or Ankara fabric. With the Mamdani family having roots in the continent, I thought it was perfect to subtly blend the style. Red was the obvious color choice, as it has been so hijacked by the red hat army. I incorporated the fisted hand as a symbol of hope, and the courage of the people’s fight. I sewed the skirt myself. I stayed close to the red, white and blue theme to recognize that this candidate is truly for all Americans.
What was the response to the skirt?
I wore the skirt to the AI-AP party with no shame. It was a smashing success. The skirt was magnetic, everyone was delighted and excited. That was the exact response I was trying to achieve.
My favorite movie of all time has always been Salaam Bombay. The film really influenced my life. Until recently, I never knew the connection, and now that I do, it can only make me smile. Life is so full of surprises.
What are you working on now?
Currently, I am obsessed with the oversized huge drop-cloth format. I build up with the acrylic that offers a rich, irresistible texture. I am hoping to paint more of these very large paintings and eventually create a walk-in installation with them. This may be where the surreal meets current affairs. The piece is called Ugly on the Inside and it may end up being a political piece, if it turns out as I imagine.
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