Anne Davies is photographic artist. One aspect of her work involves constructing handmade photobooks that push the boundaries of telling and making in the pursuit of a rich story.
Handmade Photobooks
Constructing handmade photobooks gives Anne an opportunity to work on ideas, big or small, in a very intimate way. Over the last 7 years she has made unique and small edition photobooks. The first group of books described below are available in the shop and at the end of this section is an archival record of earlier work.
concertina fence series (2020)
The Fence Series, a group of three handmade concertinas, explores the history and impact of fences in Old Eastside, a 1940s-50s subdivision on the eastern bank of the Todd River in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. Each concertina includes a poem written by Davies.
The fenced laneways
don’t follow
the dreaming tracks
of the Mparntwe Arrernte people.
When it’s early morning
my mind begins
wandering
wondering.
What was here before?
High fences
Delineating inside and out
Separating private from public
Securing, protecting
Excluding.
coming soon!!!
Fenced: a series of 100 handmade photobooks (2020-21)
These books, created during 2020 were exhibited in July-August 2021 as part of the Fenced exhibition at the June Marriott Gallery in Mparntwe/Alice Springs.
An archival record
The handmade books featured below are no longer available for sale.
untitled (abstraction with pop)
In this exploration of line and texture, an added dimension is created using cuts and folds to form a pop-out section on alternate pages.
YES!
Created during the Australian marriage equality campaign in 2017, the images for this concertina were taken by Davies in 2015 in Dublin. The photographs of wall art, posters and t-shirts indicate the vibrancy and creativity of the Yes! Campaign for marriage equality in Ireland.
edge
This series of three concertinas, inspired by the Australian coastline prompt the question: What do we know about edge?
Odes to food
This series of concertinas, inspired by Davies’ love of fresh food, were printed by Colour Factory
‘All the beautiful things…’
This is Davies’ first concertina and was made in a photo-concertina workshop at the Monash Gallery of Art. Davies acknowledges that the use of other people’s art is controversial but tells how the project emerged out of her curiosity about how women are portrayed by street artists on our urban walls. Where known, Davies has listed the names of artists who created the art on the reverse side of the concertina.
Davies took portraits of walls in Williamsburg in New York, then by converting each image into black and white and close-cropping the women’s faces she created new portraits of each woman. By zooming in on the faces and removing the colour she hoped to further reveal each woman. She constructed the concertina so that when approached from the left it is only possible to see the black and white portraits of women and when viewed from the right only the colour portraits of the walls are visible.
Exhibitions
Anne’s handmade photobooks have been exhibited in the following galleries and events:
Ballarat International Foto Biennale, 2021
Fenced, July-August 2021, June Marriott Gallery, Central Craft, Alice Springs.
Photo Melbourne, 2021
Melbourne Art Book Fair 2021
Melbourne Art Book Fair, NGV, 2020
Midsumma Queer Zine and Art Fair, Hares and Hyenas, Fitzroy, 2020
Open Spaces, Abbotsford Convent, 2019
Foto Book Fair, Ballarat International Foto Biennale, 2019
Melbourne Art Book Fair, NGV, 2019
Melbourne Art Book Fair, NGV, 2018
Foto Book Fair, Ballarat International Foto Biennale 2017
Melbourne Art Book Fair, NGV, 2017