Questioning Where I Manipulated the Image

Magdaline Davis is inspired by all things visual art. Davis goes into different worlds including, collaging, fashion design, styling, directing, and curating.

My collages will often manipulate pre existing ideas, and concepts. I like to flip, expand, challenge, and question everything. I pose questions in my work while simultaneously asking questions. The senselessness in my collages will often have you questioning where I manipulated the image. I like the use of satire, and turning idioms literal. My use of composition is my signature stamp, and that’s how I try to communicate best with my viewer. The placement is the most important part of the story I’m trying to tell. I made a collage titled “spoon fed” which pictures a spoon, and American money inside the spoon, which speaks about wealth being passed down from generation to generation. I made another collage of a gun with a pencil coming out of the barrel titled “It’s been written over and over again” where I’m speaking of the power of manipulation of information. The gun represents power and the pencil represents knowledge.

College & Formal training

I didn’t have the privilege of attending school for art. I grew up around all kinds of art. I learned, and got to study different skills from my parents. My mother is a jewelry and clothing designer/seamstress/pattern maker/artist, and my father was a jewelry designer/maker and carpenter.

African American

My family and I are Afro-American (Black). I was born in Manhattan and raised in Staten Island, New York. My mother and older siblings are from Manhattan, father was from Brooklyn.

Inspiration

Conceptualism and abstraction inspire my work. I’m inspired by resistance and thinking outside the box. I try to create imagery that reflects freedom in many aspects.