John Davies is internationally known for the lucidity with which he has tackled the rural and urban landscape. Beginning in the mid-Seventies with a prolonged analysis of the "wild" beauty and breadth of the natural landscape within the British Isles ( Mist Mountain Water Wind, 1985; 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 ). From the mid-Eighties, thanks to repeated commissions, he broadened his attention to include the landscape of different European countries ( Cross Currents, 1992 ). Today, this theme is at the centre of his attention.

Exhibition venues range from the V&A and London Tate, to M.O.M.A. in New York. He was represented in British Photography from the Thatcher Years, and 1990’s exhibitions include Rhondda Valleys at Claire Burrus Gallery, Paris, Visions Urbaines, at the Centre George Pompidou, Paris and Cross Currents at the Untitled Gallery, Sheffield. 1997 saw the publication of a book, and touring exhibition of Through Fire and Water: The River Taff.  

In 2000 he will be working on a new self initiated project titled METROPOLI, the great industrial cities of Britain. Exhibitions include: October 1999: New Landscape Frontiers, Klaaswaal, Netherlands, January 2000: Le Temps Vite, Centre Georges Pompidou, France, January 2000: Recent Work, Gallerie Cent 8, Paris, France, February 2000 San Gottardo, Swiss Alpine Museum, Bern, Switzerland.

John Davies’s work belongs to the world of contemporary documentary photography. Faithful to a refined, pure black and white, taken on as the absolute rule of a subtle, analytic style. He chooses the vastness of space inhabited by the powerful elements of nature and the contradictory ones of culture to operate in two directions. On the one hand, the evocation of emotional states through the photographic rendering of a space-light that is alive, almost metaphysical, and recalls the symbolisation of the forces of nature in Turner. On the other, a crystal-clear gaze that sounds the material aspects of the contemporary landscape which is tied to the development of the productive activities and concrete structuring of the world through the molding power of economy and property.

Take a look at John's website  www.JohnDavies.uk.com

The workshop will concentrate on the practical techniques needed to produce the amazing quality of John’s photographs which so clearly communicate his perceptions. Discussing the importance of subject matter and how to choose it, John will show how the use of ‘medium format’ equipment can give a clarity of vision not often found in the bulk of ‘documentary’ work. John’s workshop allows you to discover the beautiful strength of our contemporary environment as well as being aware of its shortcomings.

His work is in collections from New York to Stockport and publications include Mist Mountain Water Wind, A Green and Pleasant Land, and Cross Currents and Skylines. Exhibition venues range from the V&A and Tate to M.O.M.A. in New York. He was represented in British Photography from the Thatcher Years in 1991. 1995-6 exhibitions include Rhondda Valleys at Claire Burrus Gallery, Paris, Visions Urbaines at the Centre George Pompidou, Paris and Cross Currents at the Untitled Gallery, Sheffield. Through Fire and Water: The River Taff was published in 1997.

"A photograph is a synthesis of Subject, Medium and Author, a great photograph is when these three are in harmony"

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