Siân Davey

Siân Davey (born 1964) is a British photographer. Her work focuses on her family, community and self, and is informed by her background in psychology.[1]

Davey has published two books, Looking for Alice (2015) and Martha (2018). In 2017 she had a solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London[2] and was awarded the Royal Photographic Society's Hood Medal for Looking for Alice.[3]

Life and work

Davey was born in Brighton in 1964. She studied painting at Bath Academy of Fine Art (1985) and social policy at the University of Brighton (1990).[4] She was a psychotherapist for 15 years before taking up photography in 2014, which she studied at Plymouth University (MA 2014 and MFA 2016).[1][4][5]

Her photographic practice focuses on her family, community and self, and is informed by her background in psychology.[1][5] Her series Looking for Alice is a portrait of her daughter Alice who has Down syndrome.[6] One of the photographs from this series was selected for the 2014 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition.[5][7] The series was published by Trolley Books in 2015. In 2016, Looking for Alice was shortlisted for Photobook of the Year in the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards.[8]

Davey's teenage daughter Martha assisted with the creation of Looking for Alice. This led to Davey's next series Martha that focuses on Martha and her teenage friends.[1][9][10] Two photographs from this series were selected for the 2016 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibition.[11]

In 2017, Davey exhibited her series Together as a pop-up exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London. The work was made as a commission for the McCain Foods We Are Family series "which celebrates British families in all their shapes and sizes".[2][12] In creating the work, she travelled across Britain and photographed 31 families in 21 days.[13][14]

Publications
  • Looking for Alice. London: Trolley, 2015. ISBN 978-1-907112-52-2. With a text by David Chandler.
  • Martha. London: Trolley, 2018. With a foreword by Kate Bush.

Awards

Solo exhibitions

References
  1. D'Aliesio, Susanna. "Sian Davey's intimate portraits of her daughters – British Journal of Photography". www.bjp-online.com. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  2. Seymour, Tom. "We are family: photographer Siân Davey celebrates modern Britain". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  3. "Hood Medal - RPS". www.rps.org. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  4. "IPE 160 - Selector Q&A - Sian Davey". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  5. "Siân Davey on the ways psychotherapy has informed her photography". It's Nice That. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  6. Seymour, Tom (10 December 2015). "Sian Davey's best photograph – my daughter Alice, who has Down's syndrome". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  7. "Looking for Alice: a mother's gradual acceptance of her daughter, born with Down's Syndrome – British Journal of Photography". www.bjp-online.com. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  8. "Photobook Awards 2016 : the shortlist - PARIS PHOTO". www.parisphoto.com. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  9. O'Kelly, Lisa (28 April 2018). "Siân Davey on capturing her teenage daughter's life on camera". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  10. "On the cusp of adulthood, a teenage life laid bare". Huck Magazine. 1 December 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  11. "Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize 2016 – in pictures". The Guardian. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  12. "Food for thought in Sian Davey's new series, Together – British Journal of Photography". www.bjp-online.com. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  13. "We Are Family - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  14. Thompson, Jessie (19 September 2017). "A series of portraits celebrates the humble family dinner". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  15. "Yael Martinez Wins $40K 2019 W. Eugene Smith Grant". PDN Online. 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
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