bio
A native of Sweden, Kris Davidson spent the first half her childhood in the Scandinavian subarctic and the second half in Texas. In her twenties she became a travel photographer working worldwide. In recent years, she has shifted her focus solely towards an in-depth study of the United States, her adopted home. Across all her current work, Kris investigates the question of what it means to become and be an American, with an eye to the role of reconstructive memory and storytelling 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 storytelling.
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. After that, she worked for fifteen 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 has also taught photography and visual storytelling for the past 15 years in academic and workshop settings for various institutions including the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Semester At Sea, and the National Geographic Society.
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 near Seattle, Washington.