Emily Davidson (Halifax, NS) is an artist, worker and activist currently living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Born under prairie skies Emily Davidson moved east to attend NSCAD University (BFA ’09). Emily was trained as a printmaker and currently works as a freelance graphic designer and letterpress printer. Her artistic practice includes have using social practice to engage with non-artists within the artistic spheres; using puppetry and performance art to activate public spaces; using printmaking to create agitational propaganda; and researching radical histories and engaging with nostalgic tendencies to critique of the notion of progress.
NS Residency: April – May 2014
Throughout her NS residency, Emily will explore the history of artists and workers in Windsor. Are the connections between the histories of organized labour, artist run centres, DIY spaces, worker centres and other forms of political and artistic engagement in the city? Were artists in Windsor influenced by the International Artists Union movement of the 1980s or the fight for the implementation of standardized artists’ fees in the 1970s? Have artists commemorated workers’ history in Windsor through artistic projects? Are artists perceived as members of the working class? Are there frameworks where artists and other precarious, freelance or under-employed workers can build solidarity?
Her research will aim to answer these questions by variety of methods of investigation including archival research, primary source interviews and forums for public engagement. She hopes to build strategy and practical tactics to inspire other workers and artist to continue to come together and share experiences of struggle. Some tactics used in previous projects include building giant puppets, public performance, agitational propaganda, facilitated discussions and workshops.
Another World: Archives from the Inner City Artists Commune, 2013
This project explores an imagined post-capitalist world through the printed matter of a hypothetical group of artists working together after the collapse of global capitalism
See more of Emily’s work at: www.allcapsdesign.com