When Art Meets Football

Marcus Davies has been photographing primarily in black and white for over 25 years and each body of work is in itself technically brilliant and totally diverse from the other, the mastery of his photography and printing skills shines through.

As in all of Marcus Davies’ work, his main interest in the Film series is the visual balance of each individual composition. There is no socio-political message or investigation of complex personal narratives. The photographs are about the very language of photography; light and form. Davies’ photographs over the past decade represent a movement away from narrative themes to a pure, formal aesthetic.  

In this series, Davies’ trademark dark-suited figures in stark urban landscape are replaced by vibrant abstract shapes, inspired by the abstract paintings of his father Thomas Nathaniel Davies. Lengths of cine film are added to the compositions, both to add visual harmony, and to act as a personalization of the work. The unspooled lengths of film come from the photographer’s collection of Super-8 films of football matches.