Lull

Davis’ solo exhibition ‘lull’ continued her long-standing investigation of spatial, material and textual configurations of poetry. The work in the exhibition included new drawings, textual inscription, photography and sculpture. Through this extensive body of work, Davis re-visited the practices and methods associated with British Romanticism to explore the landscape as a site of myth and desire. Drawing on research about the work of J.M.W. Turner and William Wordsworth at the Wordsworth Trust (British Association for Romantic Studies), Davis’s exhibition critically interpreted the way human anatomy is visualised and experienced in the landscape. Of particular interest to Davis is the relationship of landscape to eroticism and mythology and how these forms and narratives are accessed through various states of consciousness, in particular dream states. ‘lull’ was accompanied by a publication headhearthole (2008), commissioned by The Wordsworth Trust and FRED Gallery with essays by Sarah Kent and Gabriel Coxhead. ‘lull’ was reviewed in Art Monthly (2008) and Kirsten Norrie reviewed the work in Performance Research (2008). Prop (a sculpture from ‘lull’) was purchased by the Contemporary Art Society. New and related versions of artwork on display in ‘lull’ were included in the group exhibitions 'North South Divine’ at WW Gallery, London (2013), the Drawing Biennial 2013, Drawing Room, London and 'Mrs Darling's Kiss', Arch402 Gallery, London. Davis gave lectures on her research into British Romanticism at Newcastle University (2009), Northumbria University (2010), University of Wales Institute Cardiff (2010) and Middlesbrough Central Library (2011)