Davey was born in Brighton in 1964. She studied painting at bath Academy of fine art(1985) and social policy at the University of Brighton (1990). She was a psychotherapist for 15 years before taking up photography in 2014, which she studied at Plymouth University(MA 2014 and MFA 2016).

Her photographic practice focuses on her family, community and self, and is informed by her background in psychology. Her series Looking for Alice is a portrait of her daughter Alice who has Down syndrome. One of the photographs from this series was selected for the 2014 Taylor Wessing photographic portrait prize exhibition. The series was published by Trolley Books in 2015. In 2016, Looking for Alice was shortlisted for Photobook of the Year in the Paris photo-aperture.

I have chosen Sian as an artist reference because she relates to femininity and what it is to be a girl. Her project of her daughter and what her daughter does with her friends and personal life. I took inspiration from her in my work as I want to create a set of images which will create a story of me and my friends. This could be created by gong on walks or adventures.

Image Analysis

The type of lighting used in the image is natural/ daylight which creates soft lighting. The colour and tone in the image is dark for example there are a lot of dark green, brown and dark blue. There is a lot of texture being created in the image from the different levels of people, some are sat down some standing. There are a lot of things on the floor which also creates texture such as rubbish shoes, bags and other bits almost making the image 3D. To me the emotion in Sian Davey’s daughter face feels as if she doesn’t want her Mum to be there, almost as if she’s invading her privacy and personal life with friends. The emotions on her friends face may say the same.

In an interview with Sian Davey she said:

“PW: You mention anxiety and uncertainty in your description of Looking for Alice and use photography as a tool to understand your relationship with your daughter, Alice. How did your background in psychotherapy inform this project?

SD: Uncertainty creates anxiety and fear, which always affects our relationships adversely, receiving my new daughter’s diagnosis (Downs Syndrome) it was fear of the unknown that was difficult and it was this that affected my earliest connection with her. My background as a psychotherapist gave me a sharp sense of responsibility to address the situation with my new baby and fundamentally informs the way I work photographically. Whilst working on the Alice series I certainly developed a stronger understanding of the more intimate aspects of the process.”