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Ellie Davies

Ellie Davies (Born 1976) lives in Dorset and works in the woods and forests of Southern England. She gained her MA in Photography from London College of Communication.

Davies is represented by Crane Kalman Brighton Gallery in the UK, Dimmitt Contemporary Art in Houston Texas, Patricia Armocida Gallery in Milan, Susan Spiritus Gallery in California, Gilman Contemporary in Sun Valley Idaho, A.Galerie in Paris and Brucie Collections in Kyiv.

elliedavies.co.uk

A new solo exhibition of forest landscape photography by Dorset-based artist Ellie Davies opens at 10 Gresham Street in London until the end of January 2021.

The exhibition is a collaboration between Vanessa Brady at VJB Arts and Crane Kalman Brighton Gallery who represent Davies’ work in the UK.
Davies works with a Pentax 645Z camera and lenses using predominantly natural light. She prefers to shoot in overcast weather and has recently begun to handhold her camera, preferring a light kit in order to walk the woods more freely.

Ellie has been working in UK forests for the past ten years, making work which explores the complex interrelationship between the landscape and the individual.

Between the Trees 1, 2014

"Our understanding of landscape can be seen as a construction in which layers of meaning that reflect our own cultural preoccupations and anxieties obscure the reality of the land, veiling it, and transforming the natural world into an idealisation.

UK forests have been shaped by human processes over thousands of years and include ancient woodlands, timber forestry, wildlife reserves and protected Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. As such, the forest represents the confluence of nature and culture, of natural landscape and human activity. Forests are potent symbols in folklore, fairy-tale and myth, places of enchantment and magic as well as of danger and mystery. In recent history, they have come to be associated with psychological states relating to the unconscious.

Against this cultural backdrop, my work explores the fabricated nature of landscape by making a variety of temporary and non-invasive interventions in the forest, which place the viewer in the gap between reality and fantasy. Creating this space encourages the viewer to re-evaluate the way in which their relationship with the landscape is formed, and the extent to which it is a product of cultural heritage or personal experience.

Stars 9, 2016

Fires 9, 2018

Throughout my practice small acts of engagement respond to the landscape using a variety of strategies, such as making and building using found materials, creating pools of light on the forest floor, using craft materials such as paint and wool, introducing starscapes taken by the Hubble Telescope or glittering light from the surface of the sea.

The final images are the culmination of these interventions. The forest becomes a studio, forming a backdrop to contextualise the work, so that each piece draws on its location; a golden tree introduced into a thicket shimmers in the darkness, painted paths snake through the undergrowth, and strands of wool are woven between trees mirroring colours and formal elements within the space.

These altered landscapes operate on a number of levels. They are a reflection of my personal relationship with the forest, a meditation on universal themes relating to the psyche and they explore the concept of landscape as a social and cultural construct."

10 Gresham Street, a dazzling Norman Foster designed building in the heart of the City of London, provides an interesting contrast to Davies’ forest images which date from 2010 through to 2020.

Exhibition Details

• Viewing is by appointment only with vanessa@vjb-arts.com or Crane Kalman Brighton Gallery
• Address: 10 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7JD.
• The exhibition will run until late January 2021.

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