John Davies
John Davies, born in Sedgefield, Co. Durham, England in 1949 and now living in Liverpool, is internationally known for the lucidity with which he has tackled the rural and urban landscape through his refined B&W photographs. His documentary landscapes are observations of the changes taking place to our populated environment. He began in the mid-Seventies with a prolonged analysis of the ‘wild’ beauty and breath of the natural landscape within the British Isles, in particular seen in Mist Mountain Water Wind (1985) and Skylines (1993).
At the beginning of the Eighties he began an articulate documentation of urban Britain, concentrating on the changes provoked by the industrial and post-industrial landscape: A Green & Pleasant Land (1986). Since the mid-Eighties he has worked throughout Western Europe on a variety of architectural and environmental projects: Cross Currents (1992) and his most recent monographs, commissioned and published in France, Temps et Paysage (2000), Le retour de la nature (2001) and Seine Valley (2002).
At the beginning of 2000 he started an ambitious new project, Metropoli, to investigate the major post-industrial cities within the UK. This work follows his theme of documenting city centres from high vantage points, revealing the architectural infrastructure as well as the spaces which attract people. A recent development in his work is the use of digital technology in making archival colour ink jet prints. There have been exhibitions of this work at Manchester Art Gallery and the Urbis Centre in May 2003.
For Druridge
from: Photography
Landscapes from the early 1980s of a stretch of the Northumberland coastline threatened by plans to develop a nuclear power station. The plans were dropped after the Sizewell Inquiry.
Cumbrian Landscapes
from: Photography
Landscape photographs of the Lake District in North West England, 1979/1980, Side Gallery's first exhibition of work by a photographer who has developed several projects for Amber.
Durham Coalfield
from: Photography
A landscape survey of the working Durham Coalfield, that was commissioned and first shown in 1983, part of Amber's engagement with the campaign against pit closures and the issues underpinning the Miners' Strike a year later.