Reading 6: Moyra Davey

       Canadian artist Moyra Davey discusses the meaning of photography through some artists such as Susan Sontag, Walter Benjamin, and Janet Malcolm. Moyra Davey’ works contain photography, film, and writing in the field of artistic creation. She uses the daily time and objects, her penetration of literature that create some kind of familiar visual space of the “prose”. Accident, coincidence, and daily circumstances are the core of her works. She expresses the meditation and exploration on the historical and literary world through a modal accumulation and intimate way that internal connect with Davey’s family and friends. She uses her photography to stimulate people to think about the slighting details of everyday life. 
       I did some research on Moyra Davey and her works. For example, her exhibition “Life without sheets of paper to be scribbled on is masterpiece” held on the Camden Arts Centre. Davey’s scene focused on the overlooked places which including dust, books, piles of newspapers, empty whiskey bottles, and empty coffee cups that are easily abandoned and disappeared stuff. Her photograph presents stories and anecdotes from her collection books. She interweaves the stories and anecdotes with her daily life to reflect the relationship between her and her family, the influence of the literature, analysis the spirit, travel, and environment.
       Moyra Davey other exhibition “Subway Writing” can be described as the first collective presents her recent works. This group of 75 photographs records the scenes of the New York subway riders written on the subway, which reminds people of the history of communication art. Her solo show “Ornament and Reproach” is about Jael Boscawen’s memorial tablet. The word from the memorial tablet arouses curiosity; it also includes post pictures and music works that specially designed for piano.