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Alison Lapper MBE (born 7 April 1965 in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire) is an English artist who was born without arms. She is also the subject of the sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant, which is on display in Trafalgar Square until April, 2007.

Alison Lapper has a congenital disorder, phocomelia, which caused her to be born without arms and with truncated legs. Her mother met her for the last time during her childhood when she was four months old, although a reconciliation was attempted later in Lapper's life. She was institutionalised for her childhood, and is still distant from her relatives.

When she was fitted with artificial limbs, she experienced them only as an attempt to make her look less disconcerting instead of actually helping her. So she abandoned them and learned to live without external aids.

At the age of 19, Lapper left the institution and moved to London. She acquired a driving licence and a flat. Lapper studied in the University of Brighton and graduated with a first class honours degree in Fine Art in 1994.

Lapper uses photography, digital imaging and painting to, as she says, question physical normality and beauty, using herself as a subject. She paints with her mouth. One particular influence is the sculpture Venus de Milo, due to the physical similarities between the idealized classical female statue and Lapper's own body. She has taken part in various British exhibitions, including in the Royal Festival Hall. She is a member of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists of the World (AMFPA). In May 2003, Lapper was created an MBE for her services for art.

After she had given birth to her son Parys in 1999, who was born fully formed, she created an installation of photographs of herself with him. Alison and Parys feature on the yearly documentary Child of Our Time.

She also posed for Marc Quinn for the controversial sculpture Alison Lapper Pregnant. This was installed on the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square, which had for some time been empty, on 15 September 2005.

Made of Carrara marble, it shows Lapper naked and heavily pregnant. The Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group has recommended that Alison Lapper Pregnant be replaced in 2007 by Thomas Schütte’s Hotel for the Birds.

Many have approved of the choice of this work, but there has also been widespread criticism.

• Alison Lapper and Guy Feldman – My Life in My Hands (2005) ISBN 0-7432-7558-6
• Gowland, Ronda. Freak: Representations of sexuality in U.K. disability art American Sexuality Magazine. Accessed 3-22-07.

• AlisonLapper.com Official web site
• Alison Lapper's work at Britart.com
• Alison Lapper's profile at the AMFPA site
• "Sculpture's unveiling is pregnant with meaning" from the Guardian
• "Beauty unseen, unsung" from the Guardian

Persondata
NAME	Lapper, Alison
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	artist
DATE OF BIRTH	7 April 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH	Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH