Artist fears legal action over 'Trump' photos

(Alison Jackson)
(Alison Jackson)

A British artist has been told she'll be sued by US President-elect Donald Trump after publishing a series of photographs purporting to show the business mogul in compromising positions.

Alison Jackson uses lookalike actors in her satirical photography to comment on the "cult of celebrity". In recent years she has tackled everyone from the Kardashians to the British royal family.

Artist fears legal action over 'Trump' photos

(The 'Royal Family' / Alison Jackson)

But this time she was forced to self-publish because no publisher she approached wanted anything to do with her latest collection, which focuses on Mr Trump.

"We approached publishers [but they all said no]. And then in the summer we just decided that we'd do it ourselves," she told UK paper The Independent.

While afraid of legal action, Jackson says she won't stop.

"I don't think any artist or satirist, or anybody who sits outside the establishment, should have their artistic freedom stopped. It would be an outrageous moment if all artists had to stop doing their work because the President of the United States didn't like it."

Artist fears legal action over 'Trump' photos

('Donald Trump' / Alison Jackson)

Jackson says this type of artistic curtailment is something she might expect in Russia or North Korea, and she was shocked to find it in a Western democracy.

"You're running into the realms of dictatorship, aren't you?"

Jackson is a BAFTA award-winning artist who has had her controversial work displayed in some of the most prestigious galleries around the world, in addition to publishing successful coffee table editions of her art.

Her Trump-themed collection, 'PRIVATE', took over a year to produce. Much of that time was spent finding a suitable lookalike.

Despite the attention, Jackson says it is not an attack on the President-elect.

"It is about how it's very difficult to tell the difference between what's real and what's not real in media imagery, or indeed any imagery at all," she said.

With 'fake news' being the issue de jour, Ms Jackson's is intended not to be controversial, rather to be relevant in a world obsessed by celebrity culture and social media.

Newshub.