Lottie Davies

Lottie Davies was born in Guildford, UK, in 1971. After a degree in philosophy at St Andrews University in Scotland, she moved back to England to learn the photographic trade as an assistant in London, where she has been based for the past fourteen years. Lottie has been working as a professional photographer since 2000.

Lottie's unique style has been employed in a variety of contexts, including newspapers, glossy magazines, books and advertising. She has won recognition in numerous awards, including the Association of Photographers' Awards, the International Color Awards, the Schweppes Photographic Portrait Awards, and the Foto8 Summer Show 2008. Most recently, she has garnered international acclaim with her image Quints, which won First Prize at the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Awards 2008 and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Her fine art work is concerned with stories and personal histories, the tales and myths we use to structure our lives: memories, life-stories, beliefs. She takes inspiration from classical and modern painting, cinema and theatre as well as the imaginary worlds of literature.
Davies says “My project 'Memories and Nightmares' is concerned with making images inspired by narratives of individual experiences, both real and fictional. At the beginning of 2008 I asked several of my friends to send me written accounts of early childhood memories or nightmares and have discovered a rich vein of fascinating stories.”

“We all have our own tales and myths which we use to tell our lives. In many ways, memories are an essentially human experience, and over the years they can change; for instance, an early childhood memory will be retold and re-remembered, and the way one person describes an event may be different to others' memory of it. In recounting nightmares, some people remember a clear narrative, others only a particular feeling or location. And of course the surreal or impossible elements of the dream, which at the time of dreaming seem entirely logical, are often the most fascinating. Our memories are part of the collection of human stories, and by using them as inspiration for these images I hope to celebrate them and encourage us to tell us more about ourselves.”

Lottie Davies is another photographer for whom I have enormous admiration.
http://www.lottiedavies.com/