Alexandra Davies
UK
Red Ribbons
Red Ribbons
Her current project draws upon a collection of her own personal and found family photographs of siblings dressed in identical outfits to explore themes of identity, memory and absence within the family history. These photographs serve to inform and inspire the work she produces which includes a range of experimental techniques. An attempt to mimic these historical photographs in a contemporary context has led to questioning the relationship between mother and child and also the realisation of the importance of clothing in relation to certain memories.
In venturing to recall memories from these photographs a certain overlap of fiction which seeks to complete the gaps in the narrative has been identified and the addition of short stories to accompany the found photographs attempt to question the reliability of the photograph as a tool for recollection. Being highly aware of the weight of history which the collected family photographs held and their intensely personal nature she attempts to isolate them from their true identity in order to create a new imagined history for them. It is human nature to draw upon our own experiences in order to connect with the unfamiliar and the text integrates fragments of truth from conversations with those who have donated photographs with elements taken from literature, cinema and the artist’s own imagination.
Alexandra Davies
North West photographer and writer Alexandra Claire Davies was born in Crewe, 1987. She completed her degree in Photography with Fine Art at the University of Chester and currently lives in Manchester where she studies photography at post graduate level.
Her practice explores family photography and the complex dynamics of female family relationships, focusing in particular upon mother-daughter and sister relationships using found photographs and generating new work from these.
