Blog - Anna U Davis

Anna U. Davis – Biography

Early Life and Background

Anna U. Davis (born 1975 in Lund, Sweden) is a mixed-media artist known for bold, colorful works that explore social inequalities . She moved to Washington, D.C. in the 1990s, a transition that marked the expansion of her artistic practice. In Washington she pursued formal art studies, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art (summa cum laude) from the University of the District of Columbia in 2002. Davis has since made Washington, D.C. her home base, while garnering international attention for her distinctive style and socially conscious themes.

Signature "Frocasian" Style

Anna U Davis’s signature “Frocasian” style is instantly recognizable: bold, abstracted, gray-toned figures that serve as powerful visual metaphors for identity, intersectionality, and social justice. These hybrid characters—whose name fuses African and Caucasian—were born from Davis’s lived experience in an interracial marriage and her nuanced exploration of race, gender, and cultural perception.

Stripped of specific ethnic coloring, Frocasian figures exist in a tonal gray area—literally and conceptually—challenging viewers to confront their assumptions about identity. They are built from geometric shapes and expressive distortions of the human form, often with exaggerated limbs, enlarged eyes, and asymmetrical placements of features. These figures are not just stylized—they are emotional, symbolic, and intentional. They inhabit surreal, densely patterned environments, navigating themes of empowerment, alienation, femininity, and resilience. Whether standing in protest, repose, or reflection, these characters are both avatars of the artist’s inner world and stand-ins for broader societal dialogues.

Themes and Techniques

In subject matter, Davis’s artwork engages pressing social themes, particularly gender dynamics and inequality. She draws upon a fascination with gender relations, sexuality, and social power structures, internalizing these influences to comment on broader issues of justice and empowerment. This feminist and socio-political thread runs through much of her work, often manifested in narratives that critique stereotypes or highlight imbalances in society.

Technically, Davis’s practice has evolved from traditional painting into a complex mixed-media approach. What began as hard-edged acrylic painting in her early career has expanded into compositions layered with diverse materials. Her pieces frequently combine acrylic paint with hand-cut paper collage, textile appliqué, and intricate pen-and-ink drawing, resulting in dense, textured surfaces that are rich in detail. This multimedia technique amplifies the graphic, rhythmic quality of her imagery, and Davis often uses bold patterns and repetition to reinforce her themes. The meticulous craftsmanship – from cutting paper elements by hand to sewing fabrics onto canvas – underscores the personal investment and message in each work, melding form and content into a distinctive artistic voice.

Exhibitions and Collections

Davis has an extensive exhibition record, with notable solo shows across the United States and abroad. Recent solo exhibitions include the Swedish American Museum in Chicago, Galerie Myrtis in Baltimore, the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C., and Davis Gallery in Copenhagen. Her work has also been featured in prominent group exhibitions and international art events. For example, Davis participated in the 13th Havana Biennial in Cuba (2019), presenting work that echoed her themes of inclusion and social critique on a global stage. She has additionally shown in Europe and Qatar, among other locales, reflecting the broad reach of her art. Davis’s artwork resides in numerous public and private collections, underscoring its impact and appeal. Publicly, her pieces have been acquired for the Swatch Art Peace Hotel permanent collection and the DC Government Art Bank in Washington, D.C.. Her art is also held in corporate and institutional collections, as well as in distinguished private collections throughout the U.S. and Europe. Notably, collector the late Dorothy Lichtenstein (widow of artist Roy Lichtenstein) is among those who own works by Davis, a testament to the esteem her work commands. These placements in collections ensure that Davis’s art continues to engage diverse audiences outside the traditional gallery setting.

Grants and Fellowships

Davis’s contributions have been recognized with significant grants and fellowships that have supported and honored her creative work. She is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (awarded in 2015 and 2021), a merit-based award given to outstanding visual artists. Davis has also earned multiple grants and artist fellowships from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, reflecting strong support from the arts community in Washington; these include project grants and Arts & Humanities Fellowships spanning from 2011 through 2025. In addition, she received an Emergency Grant from the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation in 2013, further acknowledging the importance and promise of her practice. Such funding and accolades have enabled Davis to deepen her ambitious mixed-media projects and continue addressing social themes through her art.

Honors and Recognitions

Throughout her career, Davis has garnered honors that highlight her influence in both art and academic spheres. In 2020, her artwork was featured on the cover of the academic journal Feminist Studies (Issue 46.1), accompanied by an artist’s essay—an acknowledgment that highlights the powerful alignment of her visual work with contemporary feminist discourse. She has also been invited to share her insights in high-profile public forums. In 2023, Davis spoke on a panel about art and female empowerment at the Hirshhorn Museum’s State of the Arts Night in Washington, D.C. . This invitation to the Hirshhorn – a leading modern art museum – underscores her role as an important voice on gender and empowerment in the arts. Together, these recognitions illustrate how Anna U. Davis’s work not only enriches gallery walls but also contributes meaningfully to conversations about equality, identity, and the power of art in society.

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

2023
SWATCH Art Peace Hotel VR Residency, Shanghai, China

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

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

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

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