Lucy Davis

Lucy Davis is a visual artist, art writer, and founder of The Migrant Ecologies Project. Her transdisciplinary practice engages plant genetics, tree lore, and birdsong, alongside art–science research, naturecultures, memory, materiality, narrative environments, and psycho-ecologies of resilience. She is currently Professor of Artistic Practices in Visual Cultures, Curating, and Contemporary Art at Aalto University, Finland, where she also serves as Deputy Head of the programme.

Davis was a founding member of the School of Art, Design & Media at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore (2005–2016), where she served for four years as Coordinator of Art History. She was promoted to Associate Professor at NTU in 2016.

Davis' work has been presented in numerous international festivals, biennales, museums, and residency programmes, including the National Gallery of Singapore (permanent collection exhibition, 2021); Singapore Art Museum (site-specific commission, 2020); Jendela Art Space, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore (2020); the 15th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival as part of May Adadol Ingawanij’s Animistic Apparatus (2019); SeedCultures, Svalbard (2019); the Taipei Biennale (2018); Rockbund Shanghai / Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (2018); NTU Centre for Contemporary Art Singapore (2017); Taiwan International Video Art Exhibition TIVA 5 (2016–2017); M1 Singapore Fringe Festival (2016); NUS Museum (2014–2015); Singapore Art Museum (2014); National Museum of Singapore (2012–2014); Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh Art/Science Festival (2013); the International Symposium on Electronic Arts (ISEA, USA, 2013); the Barbican (UK, 2013); and the Prix COAL Awards (Paris, 2011).

Davis' 2021 collaborative film Like Shadows Through Leaves, commissioned by the Singapore Art Museum, was selected for the International Competition at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, where it received the FIPRESCI Award from the International Federation of Film Critics. The film was also screened at the Reykjavík International Film Festival and the Singapore International Film Festival in 2021. Davis animated short Jalan Jati (Teak Road) screened at over 60 international venues, including the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2013) and Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (2013). Awards include the Promotion Award at Oberhausen International Short Film Festival (2012), two Singapore Short Film Awards for sound and animation (2013), and a Jury Mention for Technical Achievement at ISFF Ahvaz, Iran (2015). The Migrant Ecologies Project was a finalist for the Prix COAL Art & Ecology Awards (2011) and was nominated for the APB Foundation Signature Art Prize at the Singapore Art Museum (2011).

Lucy’s twelve-year research exploration of stories of wood and plant genetics in Southeast Asia resulted in four major exhibitions and six original bodies of work. This research is featured in a permanent exhibition on trees and DNA at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore (2015). Works from the project have been acquired by the NTU Museum of Art & Design (2016), NUS Museum (2016), and the National Gallery of Singapore (2017).

Davis contributes to a range of international publications and has produced four artist’s books. She serves as Southeast Asia advisor for the peer-reviewed journal ANTENNAE: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture (UK). A two-volume special edition of ANTENNAE, Uncontainable Natures: Southeast Asian Ecologies and Visual Cultures, was published in August–September 2021. Her publications include Why Look at Plants? (Brill, 2018); CLIMATES (Performance Research, Routledge, 2018); Mountains and Rivers Without End: An Anthology of Eco–Art History in Asia (Cambridge Scholars, 2019); Intercalations 3: Reverse Hallucinations in the Archipelago (K-Verlag, 2018); Considering Animals(Routledge, 2013); and The Documenta 12 Reader (Taschen, 2007). She has also contributed to Broadsheet: Art & Culture, ArtAsiaPacific, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, and NU – The Nordic Art Review. Davs was Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of the Singapore critical publication series FOCAS: Forum on Contemporary Art & Society (2000–2007).

Davis holds a double Magister (MA) in Visual Communication and International Development Studies from Roskilde University, Denmark (2000), a programme known for its radically transdisciplinary approach.