Sarah ALLEN

Profile

Born in 1988 in Ireland. Lives and works in London. Graduated with an MA from University of College London in 2014.
Allen is Head of Programme at South London Gallery. She sits on the Board of Directors of Belfast Photo Festival.
Previously she worked as a curator at Tate Modern curating or co-curating the exhibitions "Zanele Muholi" (2020-2021), "Sophie Taeuber-Arp" (2021), "Nan Goldin" (2019) and "Shape of Light" (2018).

Recent curations
2024 "Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and the Art of Protest," South London Gallery x Victoria ＆ Albert Museum
2023 "Lagos Peckham Repeat," South London Gallery, London
2022 "Rene Matic, upon this rock," South London Gallery, London
2020-2021 "Zanele Muholi," Tate Modern, London
2021 "Sophie Taueber-Arp," Tate Modern, London

Awards
2021 "Photo Curator of the Year," The Lucie Awards, US

About curatorial activities

Allen focuses on research into themes of spirituality and ecology towards a future exhibition at the South London Gallery. Research will link issues of land, ecology and climate to spiritualism investigating the relationship between spiritual well-being and ecological health. A central part of this will be research into shamanism within contemporary art – a religion which recognizes the profound interdependence between humans and the natural world. As of 2023 Shamanism is Britain’s fastest growing religion. Religion on a whole is an area that is less explored within the programme at the South London Gallery, something that this research also hopes to address.