How did you get invited by Madeleine Planeix-Crocker, curator of Lafayette Anticipations, to join the show SPINE happening as a part of Curated by Festival at Gianni Manhattan in Vienna? It was Anya Harrison, the curator at MO.CO La Panacée Art Center in Montpellier, who introduced me to Madeleine. Ania had invited me in 2022 to participate in the exhibition ‚Immortel,‘ a major retrospective of French figurative painting. Afterward, Madeleine and I exchanged ideas about her previous show, Scabs, and the connection between my work and her research with Spine. I was completely on board, as it resonated deeply with my practice and the idea of the body’s involvement, which remains invisible to the viewer in my case. Madeleine was incredibly attentive regarding my work, and it was very enjoyable to have in-depth discussions on these topics with her.
Your „Blood Paintings“ series is both visually and symbolically loaded. Can you talk about the decision to use blood as a medium? And why is it important for you?
2018 was an emotionally difficult and complicated year for me. During this time, I felt like I was losing energy in my artistic practice. It was then that I reconnected with a longtime friend, William, who is a nurse. He supported my idea of painting with my own blood by performing my first blood draws specifically for painting. This was a fantasy I had since my teenage years, influenced by the literature of Bram Stoker and his Dracula, Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, as well as gothic and dark fantasy worlds.
However, I wasn’t interested in self-harm or the use of menstrual blood, as it brought me too close to my femininity. I imagined blood as something both sacred and profane, a spiritual blood that transcended gender. The first painting I made allowed me to rediscover sensations in drawing and painting. I felt an autonomous force, a palpable vitality in the fluid that still drives me to question and tame it today. Very quickly, I noticed that this form of painting allowed me to communicate with my ancestors who had passed away. Blood is something we all share; it’s present at every moment of our existence yet invisible. It is both masculine and feminine, sacred and profane, embodying life and death, the erotic and the morbid. Its duality appeals to me because it is elusive and constantly in motion, reminding me of the workings of the universe—nothing is certain, neither good nor bad, neither living nor dead. There is something truly magical in the process of extracting my blood and using it, as well as in the images that emerge from it. But seeing it leave the body almost instinctively raises the question, “Is this dangerous?” Blood is thus directly tied to the notions of life and death.
Rituals and your blood as a painting tool, but also videos, animation, and music. How do you decide on the medium you will work with for an idea?
The collection of blood has become highly ritualized for me. After an initial chaotic period of excitement, my body needed rest, and I began to organize my entire life around this practice. I started keeping a journal, researching blood and cell regeneration in the body, noting the quantities I collect each month, learning to reach my limits without exceeding them, and scheduling blood draw in relation to my menstrual cycle (opposite to it, that is). I had to learn to live with the frustration of not being able to produce more than my body naturally allows and to accept that with time, my body may not be able to provide as much blood as it does now. Each blood draw brings a deep sense of satisfaction. Paradoxically, while energy is drained from my body, it allows what is inside me to exist in another form outside. Each painting session is filled with excitement, especially since there is often a period of rest each month when I don’t produce, either to recover or simply due to a lack of blood. The obsession with a feeling, an image, a dream, or a nightmare, but mostly a state of mind, creates the need to express it through different mediums, almost like a form of multiple exorcisms. It always starts with a sketch in my notebook. Sometimes I repeat the drawing over several pages, in different ways. Then comes the need—or not—to turn it into a painting, a piece of music, or an installation. When it comes to animation, it’s really about drawing the same thing over and over, frame by frame. In my opinion, there’s nothing more obsessive than animated drawing. As for videos, I like to draw inspiration from musical worlds that transcend and move me—alternative music, industrial, metal, but also more niche genres like electronic or dark ambient music. All these mediums resonate with each other. A piece of music can inspire a painting and a sketch in a notebook can inspire a music album. Certainly, the world around me—current events, trends, society, and the territory in which I live—is a deep source of inspiration. I live in the south of France, and this region is rich in medieval history, fantastic landscapes, as well as tales and legends that survive in local folklore.
Do you have any expectations from viewers regarding their reaction to your work, and are there any specific narratives you would like them to remember?
Narratives are multiple, and I believe it’s up to each of us to interpret a work or a body of art. The artist can be a guide or a storyteller, but for them, it’s primarily a space for expiation, denunciation, and freedom, in my opinion. Often, there are two readings of my work from the same viewer, which I find amusing. Some are drawn to the shapes, cryptic symbols, and architecture, trying to unlock the mystery of these strange paintings, wanting to uncover the secret, to find the way in or the way out. For some, there’s a medieval resonance, while for others, it reminds them of fantasy video games. Sometimes, it’s just the sense of a nightmare or anxiety. Then, when the medium is revealed, there’s almost shock, and the experience changes dramatically. Some are fascinated, while others need guidance and reassurance. It’s understandable—it’s as if, in seeing me bleed, they feel as though they are bleeding too. This reaction strikes me as a very Judeo-Christian response, likely coming from our collective unconscious. In a way, it’s quite touching. Their rejection or disgust expresses the deepest kind of empathy because the blood that flows is the same as theirs; it’s universal and taps into their sense of integrity. I invite the viewer to go beyond their limits and fears, but also to let those feelings express themselves, to embrace them, and in doing so, to release them and finally heal from old wounds. There is no death without life, no night without day, no anger without joy.
Tell us about your self-published publication, CATHARSIS.
Catharsis is a self-published edition born from the desire to give life, in a book, to a daily and obsessive drawing practice. A true purifying act, the practice of drawing allows for the expiation of emotional states, the exorcism of moods, and a return to the self. The A5 format edition includes 192 pages of drawings from sketchbooks created between 2020 and 2023. A first edition dedicated to these drawings was published in 2019 by Goswell Road, a self-managed Parisian art space. Catharsis is born from the desire to share these new drawings, made daily, in a book with mysterious, almost occult graphic design. Page by page, my sketches weave a narrative with many paths, inspired, perhaps, by the „Choose Your Own Adventure“ stories of my generation, Generation Y. As you wander through these drawings, you’ll sense, like a storyteller, that she guides you through gothic labyrinths. Along the way, you transform into different heroines, always seeking an exit, an escape. This is a reflection of what drawing means to me: liberation, empowerment, and purification. My catharsis on paper is fluid, dreamlike, and ever-changing. This project is supported by the Occitanie region through the „Artist Book Creation Grant“ obtained in 2023. The project has a strong regional connection, with graphic design by Laura Zanti, a Toulouse-based designer. The edition is printed using offset printing by Art & Caractère, based near Toulouse.
Collaboration is popular in the art world. Have you collaborated with other artists, and how does that experience compare to working solo?
I’m generally a solitary person when it comes to my practice. I enjoy having a space that allows me to embrace a certain form of solitude. It’s only recently that I’ve started collaborating with other artists. One collaboration that comes to mind is the one I did remotely with artist Youri Johnson, whose work resonates deeply with occultism and magic. We created a piece together without ever meeting in person—it was an interesting and exciting experience, like an artistic correspondence. I occasionally collaborate, especially in the alternative music scene. Many of my close friends are musicians, and we often share our practices and knowledge for each other’s benefit. I think particularly of Laura Zanti, a musician and concert organizer who created visuals for my tape album Waterfall Cave. Soporific is an alias I’ve used for the past ten years, under which I express dark ambient, atmospheric music tinged with nightmares, occultism, and folklore. I’ve been working with the amazing Grande Rousse disque label to build a discography around the Sopoorific project.
I’ve also created several animated music videos for the Toulouse post-punk band Cathedrale, with whom I’m very close, including for the tracks „Hostage Taking“ (2023), „Gold Rush“ (2022), and „You Can Fall“ (2021). Additionally, I’ve designed various vinyl covers for other artists, notably Jonquera for his DARKOS EP…
What is still a mystery for you?
I have always been fascinated by the mysteries of the world, and today I may define myself as a student of the mysteries! Occultism, alchemy, cartomancy, symbolism, and everything—tools that serve as lenses to help me better interpret the world around me and the past, the present, the future, and most importantly, explore my inner self.
What should we see and do in France this autumn?
For sure, coming to DS Galerie in Paris to discover my solo show Solve & Coagula. It’s been a year since we prepared this show with the director Thomas Havet, and we are very excited to make this happen. Opening date: 27th November until late December. Dialogue Entre Ciel et Terre (Speed dating 7) at Lieu Commun, artist-run space in Toulouse, 4 October – 11 November 2024.
The Salon by NADA & The Community is a new invitational art fair to take place Thursday, 17 through 20 October, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Be sure to visit Goswell Road there. Visit Southway Studio’s Emmanuelle Luciani in Marseille or book a night there. Surréalisme, 4th September 2024-13th January 2025, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Currently on view in Vienna, Austria: SPINE curated by Madeleine Planeix-Crocker as a part of Curated by Festival 2024. With works by: Alison Flora, Amy Bravo, Carina Emery, Berenice Olmedo
Exhibition duration: 13.09.2024 – 19.10.2024
Gallery: Gianni Manhattan, Wassergasse 14, 1030 Vienna, www.giannimanhattan.com
Alison Flora – www.alison-flora.com, www.instagram.com/sopoorific
Alison Flora born in 1992 in Maisons-Laffitte, France, lives and works in Toulouse. In 2017, she graduated (DNSEP) from the Higher School of Art of the Pyrenées, South of France. Since then, she has participated in several group exhibitions: MASS presented by Goswell Road (Haus Wien, Vienna, 2021), La Cérémonie (MAGCP, Cajarc, 2022), Hagazussa (Kruger Artist Run Space, Stockholm, 2022), History of Fantasy II, presented by Southway Studio (Cob Gallery, London, 2023), States of Mind (DS Gallery, Paris, 2023), and most recently, Spine, curated by Madeleine-Planeix Crocker at Gianhi Manathan Gallery for Curated By (Vienna, 2024).
In 2021, she held her first solo exhibition at Sultana Gallery in Arles, South of France: Relaunch The Dream Weapon, at the invitation of Goswell Road, which also published her first monograph, a selection of drawings from her sketchbooks. At the end of 2022, she won the Mezzanine Sud prize from the Les Abattoirs Museum in Toulouse, and a few months later, she participated in the 66th Salon de Montrouge. Alison Flora is also a musician under the name Sopoorific. In 2021, she released her first album in cassette format: Auras Around Humans, which blends ambient, experimental music, and dungeon synth.
She cites a wide range of influences, including Franco-Polish symbolist painter Boleslas Biegas, surrealist artist Remedios Varo, and British musician Genesis P-Orridge, a pioneer of industrial music. In recent years, the artist has begun a new chapter in her practice with an ongoing series of works painted with her own blood, collected following a precisely controlled protocol. Her intimate obsessions are expressed through surreal images that reinterpret motifs shared by collective consciousness, drawing from medieval representations, esoteric symbols, and elements of popular culture. The result is a universe where mysticism, medievalism, fantasy, and madness intertwine.
