ALLY MESSER SHORT BIO

Ally Messer is an American artist born and raised in Reno, Nevada. She recently received her Bachelors of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking. Messer's work features fruit and vegetable characters to address topics surrounding social justice, women’s craft, beauty standards, and queer identity.

interview with Ally messer

FM: Where are you from? How did you arrive in Reno?

Ally: I was born in Reno and raised in Sparks, NV. I moved to Reno for college, but I have never lived more than 20 minutes away from my birthplace.

FM: What made you choose the BFA program at the University of Nevada, Reno?

Ally: I chose to pursue the BFA program because I wanted to explore every opportunity related to a career in the arts. I was interested in making work commercially, but also craved the intellectual challenge that I knew the BFA program would bring to my work. I had minimal experience creating work with conceptual backing and was eager to explore research and concept in my studio practice.

FM: What are your primary concerns that you address with your art work?

Ally: My work is centered around social justice, feminism, and self-portraiture.

FM: Your theme in your solo show, “To the Fairest” pushes on identity politics, race, gender and (sexuality?) Would you discuss this?

Ally: To the Fairest focuses on the experiences of women living in contemporary society. This body of work addresses the social and societal enforcement of racist, ageist, and misogynist beauty standards. Through a large-scale artist book, screenprints, and needle-felted installation, To the Fairest draws attention to the ways that competition and rivalry are encouraged between women based on Petrarchan ideals of feminine beauty. This show aims to expose how our society teaches women that their worth relies on their beauty, as well as the ways our society tells women that other women’s beauty is a threat to their well-being or security. This body of work addresses the biases contributing to the contemporary beauty standard by abstracting human features onto apples. In this show, I aim to address the internalized racism and ageist misogyny that directly contributes to the propagation of Petrarchan beauty ideals by encouraging viewers to question why one apple is more beautiful than another and why they consider these traits beautiful or ugly. This exhibition encourages the audience to interpret facial features independent from a racist and sexist context, reflect and come to the realization that contemporary definitions of beauty and ugliness are reliant on oppressive ideology.

FM: Utilizing “feminine work” plays heavily in your exhibition/work, with the hand felted apples etc can you speak about this?

Ally: Historically, women’s art has not been considered under the category “fine art” because the techniques utilized have been stigmatized and mocked by the predominantly male artistic field; often being devalued as “handicrafts.” To the Fairest features an apple tree composed of cardboard, wool, and felt with felted apples hanging from its branches, each with unique facial features. The felting needles utilized to create the apples act as stems and aim to elevate the tools of needle felting to a fine art context. By creating work in fiber and textiles, I further my connection to women makers throughout history and continue to fight against historical and contemporary biases against fiber art based in misogynist and racist ideologies.

FM: The forest plays a significant character in fairytales, why did you choose this metaphor for your work. Why the single tree in a forest?

Ally: The tree in this body of work is meant to reference The Judgement of Paris and the beginning of the Trojan War. This war begins with a competition between three goddesses over who is “the fairest.” During a party of the gods, Eris the goddess of discord writes “To the fairest” on an apple. Paris, a man deemed exceptionally fair by the gods, is given the responsibility of choosing who is “the fairest” of the three goddesses: Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena. Each of the goddesses offers Paris a bribe in an attempt to win the competition. After the winner is awarded the apple in my artist book, the three goddesses experience a moment of reflection in which they look at the apple and realize that its features are unique and imperfect. This moment of reflection allows the goddesses to understand the superfluousness of the competition and reframe the standard of beauty as individuality and diversity. The tree in this installation is meant to represent the source from which Eris pulled this trophy apple, with each apple hanging being individual and unique.

FM: Tell me about the apples and their facial characteristics.

Ally: The apples in this installation all include a variety of unique facial features and appear in various stages of age and decay in order to address societal beauty standards. When discussing beauty standards, racism must also be discussed, as it is at the core of what features are deemed beautiful or ugly throughout history. Anti-Black racism in the United States dates back to slavery, but anti-Black ideologies and colorism remain pervasive across the globe. In order to dissect why certain features are considered beautiful, we must identify that narrow, predominantly white features are idolized in our contemporary Eurocentric American society. With distinct human features accentuated and placed onto apples, the audience is encouraged to view these features absent of sociopolitical, misogynist, and racist contexts. This exhibition addresses the internalized racism and ageist misogyny that directly contributes to the propagation of Petrarchan beauty ideals by encouraging viewers to question why one apple is more beautiful than another and why they consider specific traits beautiful or ugly. In this introspection, To the Fairest aims to incite a realization in the viewer; a realization of prejudice based on beauty standards reliant on racism, ageism, and misogyny.

FM: You mentioned one has your nose….

Ally: Yes, I often joke that one of the apples is my biological child because I gave it my own nose shape. I decided to make this apple in particular, based on an experience I had when I was about 12 when my aunt touched the bridge of her nose and apologized to me saying, that I had the “Lauri Family Nose.” I have an Italian nose, with a bridge that runs almost completely straight with a slight arch pointing downwards.  In a society obsessed with narrow definitions of beauty, a young girl does not forget comments like these. I spent the majority of my childhood wanting to get a nose job to achieve a sloped bridge and button nose. While creating this work, it was impossible to ignore the ways in which my own appearance is deemed flawed by contemporary society. As I have grown older, I understand the beauty in looking different as well as how special it is to share this nose with my mother; one of the strongest women I know. I now see this feature as an honor.

FM: How do you think the giant accordion book worked?

Ally: As a book artist, I enjoy the intimate experience of reading a book and the narrative form. When working towards this exhibition, I was inspired to write and illustrate a feminist retelling of the Judgement of Paris; eventually creating an artist book standing 4 feet tall and almost 20 feet long. The book is the first piece the viewer sees when entering the gallery. The act of looking and walking through the pages takes time and an intimate attention. Commonly, artist books are presented in a more traditional, hand-held size. I chose to represent the book in a large scale in order to extend the intimate experience of reading a book to the action of walking. Artist books are concerned with meter and time in a poetic sense, in that the turning of pages provides room for breath or pause. To the Fairest compares walking to the turning of pages. This artist book attempts to draw the audience’s attention through scale while slowing down their physical walking pace in order to read, reflect, and digest the work intimately.

FM: I think the shadows are integral to this work would you discuss your use of shadows.

Ally: After walking through, reading the artist book, and reflecting upon the narrative through viewing the silkscreen prints on the wall, the audience is able to see a dark, feathered shadow of the apple tree limbs in the distance. These shadows act as a theatrical tool to invite the audience deeper into the gallery and into the immersive experience of the installation. The intense lighting creates a drama and sense of mystery or even an ominous quality in the dark gray gallery space. The shadows contribute to the narrative and theatricality of the exhibition. To the Fairest employs theatrical set design techniques, including lighting, to create an atmosphere that transforms the viewer’s reality and transports them into the world of the work.

FM: I am really interested in how you embrace “girl-ness”, from the beautiful retro dresses you wear to the color palette in your own clothing to the exhibition work…..who or what do you think this stems from?

Ally: Growing up, my personal style was much different from what it is today. When I was younger, I avoided wearing lipstick, dresses, and the color pink as to not draw attention to myself. I lived in constant fear of what other people thought of me and never wanted to be considered a girl who was “trying too hard.” I thought that there was something inherently wrong with presenting in a “girly” fashion and treated other girls who presented this way with intense judgement. This ideology had been programmed into me by the society I was living in. I believed that the best compliment I could receive was to be different; specifically “not like the other girls.” Once I began to embrace feminism, I started to pay more attention to what I liked and what I was naturally attracted to. When I gave myself this freedom, my natural style progressed; lipstick, dresses, and the color pink all became staples of my personal tastes and fashion. I shed the shame of being a woman and reshaped my perception of femininity and what it meant to me. Although I present feminine, in a societally acceptable manner, my fashion choices feel subversive to my own personal journey with self-love and feminism.

FM: What are you going to do now that your BFA is awarded?

Ally: Since receiving my BFA, I have been teaching workshops at Laika Press, a community-based printing press I cofounded in 2017. Following my graduation, I have been working on a few needle felting and book projects I hope to complete before 2020. In addition, I attended a risograph workshop at the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina this past summer where I made a variety of new work which I am very excited to share. In the meantime, I hope to continue to challenge my studio practice, learn new techniques, and teach workshops while I prepare to attend graduate school for Fine Art within the next couple of years.

FM: Where can readers find you and your work?

Ally: Readers can find more of my work at allymesser.com and @babyavacado on Instagram.

FM: Is there anything else you would like to tell readers?

Ally: Embrace what makes you weird or different and live your imperfection with pride.

FM: I love this advice for living, thank you so much Ally!!

Interview and portraits by Frances Melhop