Cameron Davies (b.2000, Dudley, England)

I am an artist from England’s Black Country, West Midlands. I make figurative paintings depicting reimagined scenes from my life, with reference to Pagan ritual, queer occultism, and ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology. Stylistically my work is influenced by Mexican surrealism, pre-raphaelite tableaux, and Dutch genre painting.

For example, ‘Slave to My Emotions’ (2022) is a large-scale work depicting a sparsely furnished interior inhabited by two crossed-legged figures. One is a nude human male chained to an ominous humanoid ‘presence’, whose form is less defined. Positioned in the centre of the two figures is a huge red crab with its pincers locked around the chain. Two small vessels are positioned to the left and right of the crab. In the background of the room, a painting of a desert landscape complete with a crescent moon occupies a central position on the wall.

This approach to image-making exemplifies the heavy use of personal narrative and symbolism that I employ throughout my diaristic body of work.