When some use bad editing or drawings, Alison Jackson grabs her camera and captures the craziest scenes. Click. Clack. What you imagined, the 62-year-old English artist makes real…at least on glossy paper. Middle finger of Lady Diana against the royal family, selfie in the maternity ward of a very 2.0 Elizabeth II welcoming a new heir, or even Camilla, queen consort, smoking on the throne of England, a glass of alcohol at the hand and the crown on the head, Alison Jackson does not refrain from anything, even if it means shocking. And the viewer to oscillate between laughter and embarrassment. Between active look-alike searches, very eventful shootings, and upcoming controversial exhibitions, the artist tells us everything.
Gala.fr: Could you explain your work to us in a few words?
Alison Jackson : I use celebrity lookalikes to imagine scenes that look real that aren’t real. I stage everything. Everything really needs to look convincing, everything needs to be as realistic as possible. I use the subject of celebrities, and the idea that we think we know them intimately, while few of us know them intimately. We have this misperception that we think we know everything about them and that in fact we only see moments of life, video sequences, interviews and stories in the newspapers. I create images that everyone has imagined but have never seen before.
Loading…
Gala.fr: What is the goal? Humorous? Desecrate the monarchy?
AD: No no. And I don’t think I’m being very funny. I question what we think we know and what we don’t really know. We think the photograph tells the truth but it only tells a tiny part of the truth. You think you can believe the photograph, that you can trust it, but in fact you can’t. Photography is a manipulation of the media to make people believe something that is not the truth and today we can no longer say what is true or false. And this is the world we live in today, and what’s most interesting is that in the end we don’t care if it’s true or false…it’s the aspect of my job that I find most interesting.
Gala.fr: Could you tell us more about the look-alikes you work with? Who are they ?
AD: I meet them in the street, I look in restaurants. Besides, I’m looking for an Emmanuel Macron if you have! I am also looking for a Chancellor in Germany… It is very difficult to find doubles, it is even a nightmare. I have about three Camillas, two Kate Middletons, two Princes William and just one King Charles III who is always terribly busy so I really need to find another one.
Loading…
Gala.fr: Do look-alikes appreciate your work?
AD: Non, they find it absolutely appalling! They find it very complicated when they are asked to do things that are out of the ordinary and in opposition to what they think their character’s character is. I have enormous difficulty asking them for anything that is different from the ordinary. I think they don’t want to upset the personality they represent, even though they’ll probably never meet it.
Gala.fr: Do you receive a lot of criticism about your work?
AD: I get a lot of criticism. All the time. Even people who don’t know me think I’m horrible. I constantly have problems. I’m almost always about to be arrested because I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time. And there’s a lot of people, camera flashes that come out of nowhere… When I was in the horse stalls, in Hyde Park in London on a shoot, and I was with the queen lookalike and of Prince Charles, and William and Kate in the car, we almost got pulled over because no one knew it was Queen property, it’s a royal park… We weren’t really welcome.
Loading…
But I keep going, it’s the vagaries of my job, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but I think the payoff is worth it. Between members of the royal family and other celebrities, it’s just as difficult. Imagine walking down the street and being surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of flashes… it’s very difficult to work in these conditions. For the moment, Prince Harry is not in the odor of sanctity, he is not popular, because with Meghan Markle, he has divulged a whole bunch of secrets. If I took a Prince Harry lookalike right now in public, there would be thousands of people looking to take selfies.
Gala.fr: Follow-up to the revelations contained in the book Spare of Prince Harry, what series of photos could you imagine?
AD: Hmm… I just took pictures of him fighting with Prince William, the latter damaging his collar and Prince Harry falling into the dog’s bowl and breaking it. Shocking! Prince William could go crazytearing out the pages of the book Spare and throwing them into the fire. Kate Middleton completely crazy reading the revelations of the memoirs.
Loading…
Gala.fr: And what can you imagine about the coronation?
AD: New photos around the coronation will be the subject of an exhibition in London. We can imagine Camilla smoking a cigarette trying to help Charles III get dressed in the morning, he who is in a bad mood, because nothing will go as he wants…
Gala.fr: Do you have feedback from Buckingham Palace?
I have no comments from Buckingham Palace on my work, nor from members of the royal family. However, I understand that Camilla bought my books and collects them. She’s quite funny, don’t forget that she’s not quite a royal!
Photo credits: Alison Jackson DR