Sian Davey
Looking for Alice - 2015
Sian Davey is a British photographer she mainly focuses on photographing her family. She was also once a psychotherapist for 15 years until 2014 when she took up photography. Davey intertwines her background as a psychotherapist with her photography work.
Looking for Alice is a series about Sian Davey’s youngest daughter Alice.
Alice was born with down syndrome and although Davey mentions in the artist statement that Alice is just like every-other little girl, when Alice was first born Davey was overcome with anxiety. She mentions Alice did not feel like any other child and this caused Davey to pull away from her daughter, Davey felt guilty that she was pulling away from Alice and forced herself to overcome her anxieties and from this ended up falling in love with Alice.
“My anxieties penetrated my dreams. I dreamt that Alice was swaddled in a blanket and that I had forgotten all about her. I unwrapped the tight bundle that she was nestled in, to feed her, only to discover her body was covered in a white fluid — a fluid of neglect; and yet I was unable to feed her, unable to respond to her basic needs.
On reflection I saw that Alice was feeling my rejection of her and that caused me further pain. I saw that the responsibility lay with me; I had to dig deep into my own prejudices and shine a light on them. The result was that as my fear dissolved I fell in love with my daughter. We all did.” - Sian Davey
Sian Davey was named an emerging talent by Lensculture in 2014. From this she ended up going on to make Looking for Alice into a photobook which was published by Trolley Books in 2015. In 2016 it was shortlisted for Photobook of the Year in the Paris Photo–Aperture Foundation PhotoBook Awards.
The image above is from the series Looking for Alice. This image shows Alice sitting on a windowsill inside a house looking through the window with a curious look on her face, while her tiny hand clutches onto the interior window frame. The window acts as a mirror for the trees outside, almost making it look like we are the ones inside and are looking out the window at Alice sitting with the trees.
This image is one of many in the Looking for Alice series, each image within the series is beautifully lit with natural light, vibrant colours and all convey different forms of emotion. The images perfectly show family life how it is with its ups and downs.
I personally really love this series and find it very moving, when looking at this image and the others in the series I feel my heart warming and it makes me quite emotional almost bringing a tear to my eye. I feel it shows family with all its ‘imperfections’ but at the end of the day you always end up loving them.
Links
https://www.lensculture.com/articles/sian-davey-looking-for-alice
http://www.siandavey.com/humannature/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si%C3%A2n_Davey
