Jack Davison

Biography

British photographer Jack Davison's oeuvre effortlessly embraces digital, analogue, black and white and colour photography. His works depict the human figure, architecture, animals, objects, landscapes and townscapes; yet his subject is always photography itself. Uncovering the surreal and the sensual in everyday life, Davison's use of chiaroscuro, framing and exposure as instruments of abstraction draws on the history of photography - extending through figures like Saul Leiter, Shoji Udea and August Sander. Meanwhile, Davison's works draw aesthtic parallel with artists such as Max Ernst and Man Ray which key him to a Surrealist inheritiance. Davison's playful and curious approach is shaped by the equally formative space of online platforms like Flickr and Tumblr, where he first developed his craft as a young man taking pictures in the Essex countryside. Davison received his first major commission from Kathy Ryan, photography editor of the New York Times, in 2016. His editorial work has since been featured in publications including the New York Times, Le Monde, Vogue Italia, British Vogue and i-D, and he has worked with fashion labels including Alexander McQueen, Hermès, Burberry, Craig Green and Moncler. His 2019 book Photographs, published by Loose Joints, is now in its third reissue. Song Flowers, a collaboration with the fashion label Marni, was published in 2020. Ol Pejeta, whose subject is the world’s last two living white rhinos in the Kenyan wildlife conservancy of the same name, followed in 2021. A limited-edition annotated artists edition of Photographs was published in 2021. His debut UK exhibition Photographic Etchings (Cob Gallery London, 2022), saw selections of his black and white archive hand printed by Davison as photopolymer gravures which now form an ongoing series. In 2024, Davison directed and debuted his first moving image work A is For Ant, - a living alphabet- made in collabroation with award-winning production designer Shona Heath. Jack Davison (b. 1990 Essex, UK. Had his debut UK solo exhibition at Cob Gallery and a further solo exhibition at Foam Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam. He has presented work in group exhibitions at Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, in 2021. Davison presented his first solo art fair booth at Paris Photo in 2025 with Cob Gallery. His portrait photography is included in the permanent collection of The National Portrait Gallery, London.