Lottie Davies: Memories and Nightmares, London

Lottie Davies focuses her work on stories and personal histories, embracing the tales and myths society uses to construct life, and LA Noble Gallery present her Memories and Nightmare 5 April until 4 May. Unpicking humanities memories, life-stories and beliefs, the photographer takes inspiration from both classical and modern painting, cinema, theatre and the imaginary worlds of literature. Through her colourful and striking images, she reworks visual language, playing with notions of nostalgia, visual conventions and subconscious “looking habits”, with the desire to evoke a sense of recognition, narrative and movement.

Each of Davies’ photographs is elaborately staged. The resulting scenes are the visual manifestation of memories and nightmares, some personal and some collated from other people. Due to the layering, through analogy, metaphor and physical placement, each work can be interpreted in numerous ways. Audiences can re-interpret what they see before them to fit within their own histories. Aesthetically pleasing, bold, strong and intensely intriguing, Davies’ work is deserving of a prolonged view.

The element that draws in viewers is the artist’s central use of colour, using clear imaginative strokes she wields the lens towards her meticulously constructed tableaux. Varied and striking in equal quantities, furniture, costume and props are found to build each individual set around her models. The intricate planning that goes into her work produces mesmerizing photos shrouded in emerald greens, reds and turquoise. With images that border on reality but fundamentally reject it, Davies’ practice gives rise to an emotional response, leaving audiences gripped by her impressive imaginings.

Lottie Davies: Memories and Nightmares, 5 Aoril – 4 May, L A Noble Gallery, The Cass, Central House, 59-63 Whitechapel High Street, London, E1 7PF.

Credits
1. Viola as Twins, courtesy of Lottie Davies and LA Noble Gallery.
2. The Blue Bedroom, courtesy of Lottie Davies and LA Noble Gallery.