Using mainly drawing and printmaking, including digital printmaking Dr Jan Davis is well known for her studio investigation into landscape and place.
Jan has mounted solo exhibitions regularly since the late 1980s, firstly with Niagara Galleries in Melbourne and more recently with Grahame Galleries + Editions in Brisbane who continue to represent my work. Jan has been included in numerous group exhibitions nationally and internationally and in 1995 her seven-volume artists book SOLOMON won the Fremantle Print prize.
Jan’s works are in the collection of the National Gallery of Australia and the Australian National Library, Canberra as well as in many State and Regional collections. Jan studied printmaking at Phillip Institute in Melbourne and concluded her academic qualifications with a Master of Arts from Southern Cross University in 1995. Jan is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Southern Cross University.
Artist Note:
Recounting Democracy, 2013
Watercolour, graphite pencil with stamping,
200x300mm,
soft bound red cover, stitched, with pocket in back cover containing photograph,
variable edition of 5, this copy: 5/5
Recounting Democracy is a story of democracy in Australia. Small watercolour marks represent a vote for a different political party.
Each ‘vote’ has been meticulously numbered in graphite pencil, accumulating as the reader proceeds through the 32 pages of the book, until the total number is determined for each party and translated into seats in parliament.
Each book in the edition has a slightly different outcome. As I painted ‘votes’ and drew numbers under them, (many thousands during the edition), I thought about the contribution to democracy that each person makes as they enter a voting booth as they enter a voting booth and mark their electoral paper with those finely sharpened, but rather short graphite pencils provided by the Australian Electoral Commission.
The right to vote is a precious thing. Tucked inside the back cover of Recounting Democracy is a photograph I took on the streets of Paris during the 2012 French Presidential Elections, a comic reminder that not everyone believes in the power of the vote.