BIO
Originally from Sweden, Kris Davidson spent the first half her childhood in the Scandinavian arctic and the second half in Texas. It was a curious start in life, giving Kris a love for different cultures that fuels her ongoing work as a photographic artist. Across all her current work, Kris investigates the nuanced question of what it means to become and be an American, with an eye to the role of reconstructive memory as it gives shape to individual identity in a larger American cultural landscape. As an artist, she also uses mixed media elements on photographic prints in an ongoing exploration of the fluid intersection of perceived truth, memory and imagination.
Prior to becoming a photographer Kris worked as a marketing/branding professional for eight years in the San Francisco Bay Area on both corporate and agency sides, a career incarnation that still informs her work as a visual storyteller. After that, she worked for 15 years as an award-winning travel photographer, collaborating with various editorial and commercial clients including National Geographic, Lonely Planet Traveller, Kimpton Hotels, Ford, The Institute for Shipboard Education and many others. She has been recognized for her work in PDN, American Photo, the International Photo Awards among others. Kris is also faculty at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, teaching in the BFA and MFA programs.
Kris has an MFA from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California and a BA (Communication Arts) from Loyola University in New Orleans. She is based in San Francisco, California. To see her project about American storytelling visit The American Imagination project.