Flood Story II.

Other

This drawing explores themes of diasporas and emigration. The uncontrolled movement of people is a significant contemporary challenge to regional and national security, identity and cultural values; immigrants arrive with new skills and ideas but also needs and expectations. Davies's work seeks to understand the conditions of immigration by creating environments which mimic a group or family unit who are fleeing. In Flood Story II (76x94cms) Davies pictures a religious community, with sacred possessions preserved and people at work and play, adrift, in the otherwise unmarked space of the paper. The drawing initiates a dialogue concerning cultural values and the significance of preserving cultural, spiritual and political values. This work is ironic in the self-conscious utilisation of a language of illustration from children's books 'fine pen and ink- and the miniaturised scale of toys. In this merging of forms that Davis calls 'AgitToy', he employs a device which appears initially benign yet references traumatic events. The work's reference to Colin Self's sculptures of long range bombers in fun fur and brightly coloured fabric in the 1960's continues a tradition of socially-engaged art. This is one of a large suite of 45 drawings executed in many different sizes and exhibited in six venues (London, Dubrovnik, Zagreb) and one from the suite is now in the collection of Purdue University, USA. This group exhibition was selected by artist Anita Taylor and art critic and writer William Feaver RAE_import_type : Exhibition RAE_uoa_type : LICA

/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/libraryofcongress/nc

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Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences > Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts

4309

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28 Feb 2008 16:05

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Published

15 Jul 2024 07:37