Jack Davison translates the essence of his subjects into the images he shoots. A distinct approach that ensures his photographs are never straightforward. Instead, they capture the colours, moods, and rhythms of the places, people, and objects that find themselves in front of his lens — sinuous flower-stems bend and curve, black silhouettes creep across luminous backgrounds, humans and animals move within frozen photographic frames.
“I did not want to be too heavy-handed,” reflects Davison, speaking of Song Flowers, his second photobook published by Loose Joints, this time, in collaboration with Italian fashion house Marni. The project is a visual response to one of China’s 56 recognised ethnic groups — the Miao. “I wanted to assemble a set of motifs and icons from which people could form their own thoughts and opinions.”
A strong sense of the Miao, the slowness and intricacy of their lives accentuated by China’s relentless modernity, emerges from the publication’s pages — lotus flowers assemble before a concrete bridge, outstretched palms are coated in ink, a white pup nuzzles a lone finger.
These are the kind of unassuming details to which Davison was drawn as he spent two-and-a-half weeks observing the group. The Miao are renowned for their intricate handmade clothing and textiles, yet they are largely absent from the images, which eschew the obvious and embrace the in-between: fleeting moments, unexpected angles, colours, and forms.
The publication borrows its title, Song Flowers, from the name given to improvised, lyrical observation poems, which punctuate Miao poetry. Many of the figures embroidered onto Miao costumes also derive from this tradition. Similarly, Davison’s series captures the lyricism that permeates this culture – translating it into photographs, which, despite their stillness, are full of rhythm.
Davison arrived in the mountains of Southeast Guizhou in September 2019, on the invitation of Marni, to observe the lives and traditions of the Miao, and create a series of images to sit alongside a clothing collection also inspired by the community. Now, almost a year on, and to coincide with Song Flowers’ publication, he reflects on the experience and the book that developed from it.