May 2019 - February 2020

Art in Focus: Ellie Davies

Born in 1976, Ellie lives in Dorset and works in the woods and forests of the UK. She grew up in the New Forest, in southern England, and uses the natural beauty of woodland to create scenes within it, often constructing temporary installations which she then photographs.

Ellie says “my work explores the ways in which identity is formed by the landscapes we live and grow up in. Making a variety of temporary and non-invasive interventions in the forest, my work places the viewer in the gap between reality and fantasy, creating spaces which encourage the viewer to re-evaluate the way in which their own relationship with the landscape is formed, the extent to which it is a product of cultural heritage or personal experience, and how this has been instrumental in their own identity.”

Ellie has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, as well as being the recipient of numerous prizes; for instance, she won the Professional Landscapes and Seascapes category of the 12th Julia Margaret Cameron Award 2018, in 2017 was the Fine Art Single Image Winner of the Magnum Photography Awards, and in 2014 she was awarded First Place in the Kontinent Awards in the Fine Art Projects Category.  Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers and is held in private collections in the UK, the US, Central and Eastern Europe, South Korea, Hong Kong, Russia and The United Arab Emirates.

Art in Focus: Ellie Davies is presented in collaboration with Crane Kalman Brighton, a photography gallery based in Brighton, that specialises in contemporary work ranging from the best young local talent to some of photography’s leading lights. 

To find out more about her work, visit her website or Crane Kalman's website.