BIO
Originally from Sweden, Kris Davidson spent her first years exploring the snowy forests of the Arctic Circle, on a quest to find reindeer and other magical beings. At age eight, she immigrated to the United States — Texas, of all places — with her family, which was a very strange move, indeed! To this day she’s still working out the nuanced inflection of the phrase “all of y’all.”
The immigrant experience gave Kris a deep appreciation for cultural diversity, which has become a driving force behind her photography. In her personal work, Kris investigates the question of what it means to become and be an American, with an eye to the role of generational memory as it gives shape to individual identity in a larger American cultural landscape.
Prior to becoming a photographer full-time, 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 continually informs her work as a visual storyteller. As a photographer, her specialties include travel/lifestyle, documentary, and portraiture. She has collaborated with various editorial and commercial clients including National Geographic Traveler, Lonely Planet Traveller (UK), Kimpton Hotels, Ford, The Institute for Shipboard Education and many others. She has been recognized for her work in PDN Magazine, American Photo Magazine and in the International Photo Awards.
As an educator, Kris has authored and teaches several courses for the BFA and MFA programs at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She earned her undergraduate degree from Loyola University in New Orleans and her MFA from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara.
These days Kris is based in San Francisco, California. When not writing about herself in the third person, she can be found exploring the United States, listening to stories, in search of myths, tall tales and legends for The American Imagination.