Jennifer Allen, known professionally as Quilla Constance, is a British contemporary interdisciplinary artist and lecturer, born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, 1980.

Education

Allen graduated from the

Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art The Ruskin School of Art, known as the Ruskin, is an art school at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division, University of Oxford, Humanities Division. History The Ruskin grew out the Oxford School of Art, ...

, St John's College,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

, with a BA (Hons) Fine Art in 2001 and earned an MFA from

Goldsmiths, University of London Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

in 2006. She later studied acting at

Rose Bruford College Rose Bruford College (formerly Rose Bruford College of Theatre & Performance) is a drama school in the south London suburb of Sidcup. The college has degree programmes in acting, actor musicianship, directing, theatre arts and various discipli ...

Persona and style

Shortly after completing her master's degree, Allen created her Quilla Constance persona as an extension of the exoticised, androgynous punk-carnival aesthetic and malevolent demeanour explored in her earlier video and performance works and "to locate a point of agency within a hegemonic framework of white phallocentric order". Constance subsequently began staging performances in clubs, theatres, art galleries, music venues, the street and mainstream television. Quilla Constance (abbreviated to QC) stages interventions across an interdisciplinary practice of paintings, lectures, photographs, live performances, costumes and music videos. Her live performance work has been noted for its "unflinching physical narrative performed entirely through breath, posture and non-verbal sounds: panting like a dog, sex noises, then laughter, pure guttural anger, and back again". Other commentaries suggest that "QC over-identifies with an 'exotic' militant punk persona to interrogate category-driven capitalist networks, through staging and virally inserting her artistic practice within pop culture, traversing music venues, forging protests and entering art galleries in order to emulate and interrupt the operations of these cultural zones". QC’s varied art practice also frequently ‘scrutinises food as a signifying system onto which social class and ethnic identities are mapped out, from fried chicken in cardboard take¬away boxes to tea in fine, bone china cups.’ where she questions the limitations of categories, boundaries, and contexts to humorous and destabilising effect.

Career

Allen's video and performance works have been exhibited internationally since 2003 and are held in the art collections of Anita and

Poju Zabludowicz Chaim "Poju" Zabludowicz (born 6 April 1953) is a Finnish-born British billionaire businessman, art collector and philanthropist.Midgley, Dominic (5 March 2010)"FINN CITY..." ''Highbeam Business'' (London). Retrieved 23 June 2013. Early life a ...

, David Roberts' Art Foundation, and Goldsmiths College (Warden's). In 2003, Allen was awarded British and Arts Council funding for her solo exhibition and artist's residency at BizArt Center, Shanghai, China through the ARTLINKART International Residency Programme. In 2007, Allen guest curated a video screening at 176 London, Zabludowicz Collection. The event featured Allen's 2006 video work 'Happy Christmas Mom & Dad', a piece that sees Allen allegedly perform a seductive dance as a gift for her parents on Christmas Day. In an interview with arts patron

Shalini Passi Shalini Passi is an Indian art and design collector, patron, philanthropist, art advisor and an artist based in New Delhi. Passi is also the creative director of Pasco group of companies. Art and collection Passi is a member of the Advisory Boa ...

, Constance stated that "My current professional name is Quilla Constance ... which is an art persona I’ve cultivated and deployed since 2009. My birth name is Jennifer Allen, and the name I operated under from 2001–2009" In 2010, Constance staged a 'militant punk protest performance' outside the former Punk Soho nightclub in order to challenge the venue for cancelling a Quilla Constance punk performance in favour of a corporate booking. She later successfully prosecuted the club's promoter through

Equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the diff ...

. In 2011, the 80s synth-pop and

New Romanticism The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...

artists

Rusty Egan Rusty Egan (born 19 September 1957 in London) is the former drummer for the British new wave band Rich Kids. They were founded by former Sex Pistol Glen Matlock (bass guitarist and backing vocals, occasional lead vocals), with Steve New (g ...

and

Steve Strange Stephen John Harrington (28 May 1959 – 12 February 2015), known professionally as Steve Strange, was a Welsh singer. From the late 1970s he was a nightclub host and promoter. He became famous as the leader of the new wave synth-pop group V ...

invited Constance to perform at a reunion in the former Soho Blitz Club. Later that year, she performed at Fierce! Festival, Birmingham alongside

Cakes da Killa Rashard Bradshaw, better known as Cakes da Killa, is an American rap artist who fuses genres of Hip hop music, hip hop, House music, house, and electronic dance music. He came to prominence in the "queer explosion" of hip hop music stemming from ...

. In 2015, 2017 and 2019 Allen was awarded funding from Arts Council England in support of a series of Quilla Constance solo projects and exhibitions: 'Teasing Out Contingencies: Quilla Constance Open Studio' at

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

, Tate Exchange 'Transcending The Signified' at The Museum of Contemporary Art/ MOCA, London, which toured to The Old Fire Station Gallery, Oxford/

OFS Studio __NOTOC__ Arts at the Old Fire Station ('The OFS') is an arts centre in Oxford comprising a Theatre, Gallery and Shop. There are also studios available to hire for classes, rehearsals and meetings. The organisation focuses on three key things: ...

; '#QC' at The Kendrew Barn,

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pr ...

and 'PUKIJAM' at

198 Contemporary Arts and Learning 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, also known as the 198 Gallery or 198, is an art space and gallery in Railton Road, Brixton Brixton is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in ...

, curated by Maria Kheirkhah. PUKIJAM received additional support from The Research Centre for Transnational Art, Identity and Nation (TrAIN); and Diversity Arts Forum In December 2017 Allen's artworks were discussed in a paper presented at the conference 'Black Artists and Modernism: Conceptualism – Intersectional Readings, International Framings' held at

Van Abbemuseum The Van Abbemuseum () is a museum of modern and contemporary art in central Eindhoven, Netherlands, on the east bank of the Dommel River. Established in 1936, the museum is named after its founder, Henri van Abbe, who loved modern art and wante ...

in the Netherlands. In February 2018, Constance was selected by Bedford Creative Arts and live art organisation

Artichoke (company) ''Artichoke'', also known as the ''Artichoke Trust'', is a London-based British company and registered charitable trust that stages arts spectacles and live events. It was founded in 2002 by Helen Marriage, former director of the Salisbury ...

to lead women's art workshops in Bedford, and commissioned to produce a banner artwork with women of Bedfordshire to honour the

suffragettes A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to member ...

and the

suffragists Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, and celebrate the centenary of women's right to vote. The banner featured in a major London procession PROCESSIONS (artwork) held on 10 June 2018. In a statement to The New York Times, Constance said of the Suffragettes "They were really quite anarchic...They had to really fight. And we still have to fight...I think they're here today in spirit, and we're giving them high fives"

was the first gallery to screen Constance's arts council-commissioned video piece, ''PUKIJAM'', which sees her 'perform a dystopian golliwog cakewalk, accompanied and interrupted by a montage of erotic media images, figurative objects and her mutant, sub-linguistic scat vocal set against a relentless electronic throb'. The exhibition also featured vibrant 'exotic' costumes adorning large, acrylic paint on canvas abstractions. 'These conspired with video works, inviting the viewer into a dialogue through which notions of cultural authenticity and the production of meaning were visibly contested'. In July 2015, Constance was invited to screen her performance art video, ''PUKIJAM'' in the Kendrew Barn Gallery,

for The 2000 Women Big Party. The event was held in celebration of the matriculation of the 2000th female to read for a degree at St John's College Oxford, and the appointment of Margaret Snowling, the first female president of the college in 450 years.

was an all-male college until 1979. Constance has written articles for Transition Gallery (''Garageland'' magazine) and '' The Rebel''. She also writes a quarterly punk-art gossip column, 'Quilla's Constant Catch-Up' for ''La Bouche Zine''.

Television

During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, Quilla Constance gave a special guest performance on the docuseries ''Rob & Romesh VS (Art)'' on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1 ...

, where she invited presenter-comedians

Rob Beckett Robert Anthony Beckett (born 2 January 1986) is an English comedian, narrator, and presenter. He was a co-host on the ITV2 spin-off show '' I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! NOW!'' from 2012 to 2014. Since 2016, Beckett has been a team capta ...

and

Romesh Ranganathan Jonathan Romesh Ranganathan (born 27 March 1978), is an English actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and often self-deprecating comedy. Ranganathan has made numerous appearances on television comedy panel shows, and in 2016 he co-p ...

to experiment with performance art in her studio. Here she offered up "Hoops in Flutes" and "High Tea in PPE" The episode also featured Constance's single and video PR BLITZ, described in ''The Guardian'' as "Brilliantly deranged punk where Constance sings salacious tabloid headlines against a junkyard backdrop" During tier 2 lockdown, Constance also featured in 'How Limits Can Boost Your Creativity' for

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

IDEAS where she makes reference to her admiration for artist

Faith Ringgold Faith Ringgold (born October 8, 1930 in Harlem, New York City) is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist, best known for her narrative quilts. Early life Faith Ringgold was born the youngest of three child ...

, and the positive activation of her own biracial, working class female identity within the historically sexist and elitist contemporary art world

Artworks

*2006 'Happy Christmas Mom & Dad' Performance/Video Artwork *2016 'Pukijam' Performance/Video Artwork *2016 '#QC_001' Performance/Video Artwork *2017 'Celsnakar' Painting *2017 'Transcending The Signified' Quilla Constance live performance, MOCA London

Selected exhibitions

*2019 'Teasing out Contingencies' Open Studio, Tate Exchange,

*2017 'Transcending the Signified', MOCA London *2017 'Transcending the Signified', Old Fire Station Gallery

*2015 'Pukijam',

*2015 '(Dis) identifications: Gender as Material' (symposium and screening),

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA ...

, London *2015 'PUKIJAM' (solo exhibition) 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning *2014 'Performance Art: Love, Lust and Longing' (lecture and group exhibition),

The Freud Museum The Freud Museum in London is a museum dedicated to Sigmund Freud, located in the house where Freud lived with his family during the last year of his life. In 1938, after escaping Nazi annexation of Austria he came to London via Paris and st ...

, London *2008 'Jennifer Allen presents Sexual Visionaries.... Love, Hate, Narcissism, Mortality, Fetish and Taboo' (curated project) 176 London Zabludowicz Collection *2007 'Dark Glasses' (group exhibition) The Standpoint Gallery, London *2007 'The Dream of Putrefaction' (group exhibition) Fieldgate Gallery, London *2006 'Goods To Declare MFA International' (group exhibition) Airport Terminal 1, Tel-Aviv, Israel *2003 'SKINS Revisited' (solo exhibition and artists' residency) BizArt Center, Shanghai, Chinä: ARTLINKART International Residency Programme *2001 'Bloomberg New Contemporaries' (group exhibition)

Camden Arts Centre Camden Art Centre (formerly known as Hampstead Arts Centre until 1967 and Camden Arts Centre until 2020) is a contemporary art gallery in the London Borough of Camden, England that hosts temporary exhibitions and educational outreach projects. T ...

Publications

*2019 ''A Companion to Feminist Art'', Hilary Robinson (editor), Maria Elena Buszek (editor)-Blackwell Wiley *2015 ''Garageland art'', culture and ideas 'SEX' edition No. 18 (pages 15–19) 'Freud and Eros: Love, Lust, Longing and The Oedipus Complex: Jennifer Allen aka Quilla Constance visits The Freud Museum' edition #18 (pages 15–19) *2012 ''

'' magazine, spring 2012, page 11 *2010 '' The Rebel'' 'Q&A With Quilla Constance' *2008 Saatchi Online 'Emerging Artist of The Week' Saatchi Art Online Magazine - *2001 Bloomberg New Contemporaries Catalogue

References

External links

*
Quilla Constance at the Royal Academy of Arts
{{DEFAULTSORT:Constance, Quilla 1980s births Living people 21st-century British women artists 21st-century British painters Alumni of the University of Oxford Alumni of the Ruskin School of Art Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Alumni of St John's College, Oxford British conceptual artists Women conceptual artists Artists from Birmingham, West Midlands Black British artists Feminist artists Alumni of Rose Bruford College British performance artists Postmodern artists Interdisciplinary artists British video artists