Artist Statement

Anna U Davis creates visually arresting mixed-media works centered on her signature gray Frocasian figures—characthers developed through her personal experience as part of an interracial partnership. This lived

perspective informs her exploration of cultural duality, belonging, and the intersections of race, gender, and power.

These hybrid forms challenge traditional constructs of race and gender, acting as vessels to explore identity, social

justice, and power dynamics. Davis’s art is layered in both material and meaning, composed of meticulously cut paper,

ink, acrylic, textiles, pumice, and collage.

Her work operates at the intersection of the personal and the political, balancing pop-art aesthetics with critical

commentary. Over the years, Davis has consistently explored themes of gender equality and traditional gender roles,

using her Frocasian figures to subvert and reimagine power dynamics in both public and private spheres. Davis

interrogates the mechanisms that categorize and confine, while revealing the resilience within. Themes such as

surveillance, ecological resistance, mental health, and gendered labor reappear in her compositions, always with a

playful, irreverent edge. The work seduces with its color and graphic rhythm, then confronts with its truth.

“Davis’s Frocasian figures are among the most distinct visual languages in contemporary feminist art—bold,

unapologetic, and richly allegorical.”

— Feminist Studies Journal 2020

Materials & Process

Anna U Davis’s practice is grounded in a rigorous, layered mixed media approach that fuses acrylic paint, ink pen,

hand-cut paper collage, pumice, and appliquéd textiles into bold, symbolically charged compositions. At the center of

this language are her Frocasian figures—gray-toned, hybrid forms that represent the complexity of identity across

race, gender, and cultural perception.

Each work is built slowly and deliberately. Collaged elements—whether patterned squares, symbolic motifs, or

architectural fragments—are individually hand-cut and meticulously placed, often enhanced with painted outlines to

blur the line between collage and brushstroke. Hair, facial expressions, and detail work are drawn in ink, offering

precision and emotional intimacy, while acrylic paint provides structure, movement, and contrast. Pumice and textiles

are used to add physical depth and conceptual weight—evoking roughness, softness, or embedded history through

texture.

Her black-and-white wall sculptures, constructed from cut-out birch plywood in collaboration with her husband, bring

her figures into dimensional space. While not life-sized, these wall-mounted works operate as dimensional drawings:

rendered primarily in ink line work, with areas of acrylic paint used to amplify contrast and form. They flatten and

frame the figure while extending its presence into physical space.

In recent series like Walkalong and Faze-It! (a recent expansion of her ongoing Face-it! series), Davis has begun to integrate elements of realism into her Frocasian world—especially in portraits of herself and her husband. These works remain firmly embedded in her symbolic visual system,

but the inclusion of realistic forms introduces a heightened sense of specificity and presence. Realism, here, is not a

departure—it is an expansion. It deepens the conceptual field, anchoring the abstract in lived experience.

Across all series, Davis’s materials are never neutral—they are extensions of voice, labor, and authorship. Each layer is

intentional. Each surface invites close inspection. Meaning emerges not just in what is shown, but in how it is made.

Biography

Anna U Davis (b. Lund, Sweden) is a Washington, D.C.–based contemporary artist recognized internationally for her

bold, interdisciplinary practice. She received her B.A. in Studio Art from the University of the District of Columbia in

2002. Davis is a two-time recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and has earned multiple fellowships from

the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

She has exhibited at venues including the Swedish American Museum (Chicago), Galerie Myrtis (Baltimore), Davis

Gallery (Copenhagen), and the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C. Her work was featured in the 13th Havana

Biennial in Cuba and is included in prestigious collections such as the Swatch Art Peace Hotel, the DC Art Bank, and

the collection of the late Dorothy Lichtenstein, philanthropist and widow of artist Roy Lichtenstein.

Davis’s work appeared on the cover and back cover of Feminist Studies journal, accompanied by a major interior

spread and an essay written about her practice. One of her paintings, Equilibrium, was also featured on the cover and

the back cover in the journal’s COVID-19 special issue. She has been invited to speak at the Hirshhorn Museum as part

of a panel on contemporary feminist art and representation.

CV

ANNA U DAVIS

b. 1975, Lund, Sweden

Lives and works in Washington DC

GRANTS

2025–2024, 2023–2021
Project Grant, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC

2025 - 2024, 2022–2013, 2011
Fellowship, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC

2021, 2015
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York, NY

2013
Emergency Grant, Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation, New York, NY

2006
Young Artist Program, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC

AWARDS

2023
Show Award Winner, (Not) Strictly Painting 14, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA (Curated by Tim Brown)
Finalist, Helen Frankenthaler Residency at ISCP

2022, 2021
Finalist, Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant

2020
Show Award Winner, SHIFT Online Exhibition, McLean Project for the Arts (Curated by Henry L. Thaggert)

2018
The Influence Nation Summit, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC

RESIDENCIES

ISCP Residency, New York, United States (forthcoming)

2023
SWATCH Art Peace Hotel VR Residency, Shanghai, China

2011
WIP Gallery Residency at Artisphere, Arlington, VA, United States

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025

Walkalong, Dacha Loft, Washington DC

2024

And Still We Rise, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington DC

Road to Recovery, Brentwood Art Exchange, Brentwood, MD

2023

Reality Check, Davis Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark

2022

Reality Check, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington DC

2021

Reality Check, Swedish American Museum, Chicago, IL

2019

Take it Personal - Anna U Davis and Ola Kalnins, Bredgade Kunsthandel, Copenhagen, Denmark (Duo)

2018

Frocasian: Moving Beyond Social Constructs, Artist Proof, Washington DC

Damsels in Distress, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD

2017 - 2018

Witnesses, House of Sweden (Embassy of Sweden), Washington DC

2016

Anna U Davis - Going Big @ Dacha, Dacha Loft, Washington DC

2012

Pop-up, Gallery at Bloombars, Washington, DC

2011

A Work in Progress, Wip Gallery at Artisphere, Arlington, VA

2010

The Dance before the Kill, Long View Gallery, Washington, DC

2009

Bull’s-Eye, Long View Gallery, Washington, DC

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025

Women Artists of the DMV, Athenaeum, Alexandria, VA, curated by Lenny

Campello (forthcoming)

2024

Art Vilnius 2024, Davis Gallery, Vilnius , Lithuania

Democracy in the Crossfire: Art, Identity, and Resilience, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington DC, curated by Tim Brown

and Dr. Sarah Klein

A Toast To The Boogie: Art In The Name of Funkadelic, 200 I Street Galleries, Washington D, curated by Zavier Croft, Adrian Loving, Farrah Skeiky and Kevin Strait

Kunst RAI Art Amsterdam 2024, Davis Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Art Herning 2024, Davis Gallery, Herning, Denmark

Legacy: Civil Rights at 60, 200 I Street Galleries, Washington DC, curated by Karen Baker, Fabiola Delgado, Maleke Glee, Dr. Melanee Harvey and Andrew

Johnson

2023

(Not) Strictly Painting 14, McLean Project for the Arts, McLean, VA, curated by Tim Brown

The Swatch Art Peace Hotel: Love is Love, BaseCamp, Instituo Sant’Eugenio, Locarno, Switzerland

Pulse 2023, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington DC

2022

Fragile Beauty, I Street Galleries, Washington DC, curated by Elizabeth Ashe, Claude Elliott, Zsudayka Nzinga and Jarvis Grant

Body Language: Contemporary Approaches to Figuration, Brentwood Art Exchange, Brentwood, MD, curated by Andrea Limauro

Invasion, IA&A at Hillyer, Washington DC

Women of the Pandemic, Katara, Building 47, Gallery 2, Doha, Qatar

2021

Creativity in Quarantine: Women of the Pandemic, Qatar America Institute for Culture, Washington DC

Summer show, Oil and Pigments, Washington DC

Creativity in Quarantine: Women of the Pandemic, Qatar America Institute for Culture, Washington DC - Katara, Doha, Qatar, online

2020

Latela Curatorial x Artsy: Women in the Arts ~ Materiality - In the Flesh, Washington DC

SHIFT Online Exhibition, McLean Projects for the Arts, McLean, VA, curated by Henry L. Thaggert

2019

Building Bridges: The Politics of Love, Identity and Race II, Galeria Carmen Montilla, 13th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba, Curators Myrtis Bedolla and Ana Joa

Where Have We Been, Center for the Arts Gallery, Towson University, Towson, MD, curated by Dr Erin Lehman and Dr. J. Susan Isaacs

2018

More or Less, Hemphill, Washington DC

2017

Oh Say, Can You See? Emigre Artist In America, Charles Krause / Reporting Fine Art, Washington DC

One Year Later, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Hyattsville, MD

2016

Consumption: Food as Paradox, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD

2015

These Mirrors Are Not Boxes, VisArts, Rockville, MD, curated by Kayleigh N. Bryant-Greenwell

2014

Emergence: International Artist to Watch, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD, curated by Sharon Burton, Robert Devereux, Deana Haggag, and Makgati Molebatsi

Untitled, Gallery OneTwentyEight, New York, NY

2013

Holiday Popsicle, Gallery OneTwentyEight, New York, NY, curated by Kazuko Miyamoto

Crowns, The Fridge, Washington, DC, curated by Zoma Wallace

Fear Strikes Back, Fine Art Gallery, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, curated by Helen Fredericks

The Newtown Projects: A Call to Arms, Charles Krause/ Reporting Fine Art, Washington, DC

2012

Zeitgeist III: Too Much Information, District of Columbia Art Center, Washington, DC

2010

Synergy, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC=

Party Crashers: Comic Book Culture Invades the Art World, Terrace Gallery at Artisphere, Arlington, VA, curated by Cynthia Connolly

SELECTED PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

The Swatch Art Peace Hotel Permanent Collection

Permanent Collection, DC Government Art Bank, Washington, DC

Dacha Loft, Washington, DC

Jackie, Washington, DC

American Humanistic Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership, Washington, DC

GCH Endowment to Promote Quality Early Childhood Education, Washington, DC

Dorothy Lichtenstein Private Collection, Captiva (FL) / Southampton (NY) / New York (NY)

David Lichtenstein and Jennifer Moore, Berkeley (CA)

PUBLIC PANELS/ TALKS

2023

Art x Female Empowerment panel, State of the Arts Night, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC

2018

Featured Speaker, Vital Voices: 2018 Global Mentoring Walk in Washington, DC, House of Sweden, Washington DC

Artist talk, Damsels in Distress, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD

2017

Artist talk with Carolina Falkholt, House of Sweden, Washington DC

Artist talk, Road to Recovery, House of Sweden, Washington DC

2016

Artist talk, Galerie Myrtis, Baltimore, MD

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2024

Campello, F. Lennox. “Gallery Season 2024: Anna Davis and Nancy Sansom Reynolds Are Comin’ In Hot!.” Old Town Crier, September 1, 2024. Print

Kelly, Chris. “D.C. exhibit celebrates P-Funk’s artistic legacy in Chocolate City.” Washington Post, June 27, 2024 at 3:46 p.m, Print

Pusatory, Matt. “Founding father of funk George Clinton to launch new art

exhibit in DC,” WUSA9, June 25, 2024

Jenkins, Mark. “In the galleries: Transformations in 20th Century Abstraction.” Washington Post, May 10, 2024. Print

2023

Schjødt, Inge.“Tidens pointer skåret ud og til.” Kunstavisen. September 28, 2023

Children, Nicola. “Swatch at the Locarno Film Festival: the art that fixes time.” Vanity Fair Italy, August 11, 2023

Precious, Jasmine. “The story of the 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival: the Seventh Art under the stars.” ExibArt, August 8, 2023

2022

Jenkins, Mark. “In the galleries: The art of looking inward to provoke societal change.” Washington Post, February 11, 2022

Brown, Timothy. “The Personal and Political Art of Anna U Davis, ” IA&A at Hillyer Blog, February 2, 2022

Doecter-Loeb, Hannah. “City Lights: Look Inward With Anna U Davis’s Reality Check,” Washington City Paper, February 8, 2022

Brown, Timothy. “Reality Check: Interview with featured artist Anna U Davis and Tim Brown, Hillyer Director,” IA&A at Hillyer Blog, January 22, 2022

2021

Wavzenek, Tom. “Review: A Dynamic View of Social Justice Issues at the Swedish American Museum,” Third Coast Review, September 4, 2021

Arviva, Janet. “Female Artists Explore Earthly Issues in Chicago Exhibitions,” Rebellious Magazine for Women, August 24, 2021

Masters, Jonathan. “God Has Infinite Frequency: Aphorisms for Our Fractured Age”

2020

“Special Issue: Feminist Analysis of Covid-19,” Feminist Studies, Issue 46.3 Weiss, Ellyn. “Anna U Davis: An Introduction (Art Essay,)” Feminist Studies, Issue 46.1

2018

Jenkins, Mark. “In the galleries: Six artists go deep into the weeds: Anna U Davis,” Washington Post: March, 1, 2018. Print

Capps, Kriston. “At Hemphill Fine Arts, The Past, Present and Future of Abstraction,” Washington City Paper: May 24, 2018

Weisel, Aden. “A Thousand Paper Cuts,” BMore Art, April 13, 2018

2017

Jenkins, Mark. “In the galleries: Synthetic consumer products prove to be a natural

medium: Émigré Artists, Washington Post: August 3, 2017

2016

Rudig, Stephanie “The People Issue: Conversations with 23 of D.C.'s most interesting

People,” Washington Citypaper: December 8, 2016

“Best Group Show: ‘Consumption: Food as Paradox’ at Galerie Myrtis,” Baltimore, City

Paper: September 13, 2016

Callahan, Maura and Kirkman, Rebekah. “Baltimore at Art Basel: Checking in with the

local artists and spaces that showcased in Miami,” Baltimore Citypaper: December 5, 2016

Kirkman, Rebekah. “A mélange of artists dive deep into food to talk about race, class, gender, and culture.” Baltimore City Paper: March 2, 2016

2015 Jenkins, Mark. “Anything but simplicity in these drawings .” The Washington Post: July 2, 2015

Jenkins, Mark. “In the galleries: Katrina and a tempest of symbols.” The Washington Post: May 15, 2015

2013

Jenkins, Mark. "Fear Strikes Back."The Washington Post: May 30, 2013

2012

Jenkins, Mark. "Anna U Davis."The Washington Post: July 27, 2012; C8

2011

Mack, Stephen. "Anna U Davis: Artist Profile." The Examiner: October 31, 2011

2010

Carothers, Sara. “Comics Crash the Party at the Artisphere and AAC.” Ballston Patch:

December 12, 2010

Bloch, Brandon. “The Dance before the Kill.” www.readysetdc.com. June, 2010

Weiss, Ellyn. “Dance Before the Kill: Anna U Davis at Long View.” www.pinklineproject.com. June 4, 2010

Heuser, Tara. “The Dance before the Kill.” www.pinklineproject.com. June 7, 2010

O’Sullivan, Michael. “Gallery Opening of the Week.” The Washington Post: May 28, 2010;

WE45 Aineki. “PHOTOS: Anna Davis' Dance Before the Kill @ Long View Gallery.”

www.brightestyoungthings.com. June 7, 2010

TELEVISION

2019

Önnevall, Fredrik. “Sverige! Säsong 22,” SVT, Malmo, Sweden, Lör 24 aug 02.00, 2019

2018

BMORE Lifestyle, “ segment about artist Anna U Davis,” FOX 45, aired 01/04/18

2017

Aubert, Amy. “Breast cancer survivor shares journey through art,”

http://wjla.com/news/local/breast-cancer-survivor-shares-journey-through-art . ABC7

2013

Rieger, Wendy. "The Newtown Project: A Call To

Arms."http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/#!/entertainment/the-scene/The-Newtown-

Project--A-Call-to-Arms/188422151. January 27, 2013

EDUCATION

2002

Bachelor Degree of Arts, Studio Art, Summa Cum Laude,

The University of the District of Columbia, Washington, DC

1995

Studies in Practical Philosophy, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

RELATED PROFESSIONAL ART EXPERIENCE

2022

Qatar America Institute for Culture Artist Delegation, Doha, Qatar

2020

Panelist for DCCAH

2017-present

Hillyer Art Space Advisory Board

2013

28th Mayor’s Art Award judge panelist - DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Washington, DC

REPRESENTATION

Davis Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark