Siân Davey

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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[edit]

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[edit]

  • 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[edit]

Solo exhibitions[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d D'Aliesio, Susanna. "Sian Davey's intimate portraits of her daughters – British Journal of Photography". www.bjp-online.com. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Seymour, Tom. "We are family: photographer Siân Davey celebrates modern Britain". Financial Times. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  3. ^ a b "Hood Medal - RPS". www.rps.org. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  4. ^ a b "IPE 160 - Selector Q&A - Sian Davey". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b "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.

External links[edit]

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