About the work

This work was made in response to a remark by photographer, writer, artist, and educator Jo Spence – that ‘nudes never wear glasses.’ Brick Wall I (study) is part of a series of works I made, which took found negatives of archetypal monuments as my starting point. I drew into, and then printed these images to redefine the subjects they commemorate. These works were exhibited at my exhibition Nudes Never Wear Glasses at Stills, Edinburgh, 2017.

The photographic plate I used for this image was a found one and I liked the sense that it was scratched and marked – so came with its own ‘drawn marks’ and my drawing on the plate was to be in keeping with those marks gathered over time.

Date and country of birth

1977, NZ

About the artist

Born 1977 New Zealand, Kate Davis lives and works in Glasgow. Graduated from the Glasgow School of Art (2001).

Her work in drawing, moving image, printmaking, installation and bookworks questions how to bear witness to the complexities of the past. Reconsidering what certain histories could look, sound and feel like, this has often involved responding to the aesthetic and political ambiguities of historical art works and their reception.

Selected exhibitions include The Driver’s Seat, Cubitt Gallery, London (2018); Here was Elsewhere >>FFWD, Cooper Gallery DJCAD, Dundee (2018); A Slice Through the World: Contemporary Artists’ Drawings, Drawing Room, London and Modern Art Oxford, Oxford (2018); NOW: Susan Philipsz, Michael Armitage, Yto Barrada, Kate Davis, Hiwa K, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh (2017); Charity, LUX, London (2017); Nudes Never Wear Glasses, Stills, Edinburgh (2017); The Unswept Floor, Dunedin Public Art Gallery (2016); Not Just the Perfect Moments, The Drawing Room, London (2012); Eight Blocks or a Field, Temporary Gallery, Cologne (2013); Peace at last!, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow (2012); Ranziges Fett, Galerie Kamm, Berlin (2012); ¿Qué tenemos que hacer con una habitación propia?, Museo de la Ciudad and La Galeria de Comercio, Mexico (2010); The Long Loch: How Do We Go On From Here?, with Faith Wilding, CCA, Glasgow (2010); Outsider, Sorcha Dallas, Glasgow (2008); Your Body is a Battleground Still, Tate Britain, London (2007); and Stop! Stop! Stop!, Kunsthalle Basel (2006).

Awards include the Margaret Tait Award (2017); Creative Scotland Artists Bursary Award (2014); and Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, Washington (2012).