Crane Kalman Brighton is 20!

August 2025

CRANE KALMAN BRIGHTON GALLERY 20TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION

Gallery Director Richard Kalman chose his 20 favourite images by gallery artist’s that have shaped the last 20 years.   Richard selected ‘Stars 8’ and we both discuss this image and it’s roll in my career development over the years.

View the 20th Anniversary Exhibition entitled 20 on 20, online.

Stars 8, 2016 – Ellie Davies 

ED – Experimentation is a central part of my working process.   I bring images and sculptural elements together, often using an unplanned and haphazard process, layering, building, gathering and making; compiling the raw materials of a series and bringing them together in the making and editing process in a way that often surprises me.  Fundamentally I am trying to capture how the woods make me feel and I endeavour to show this in my images in a way that other people can also experience.  I love the freedom of not being sure where a series is going, trying to stay open to the suggestions of the landscape I’m working in.

Stars 8 was shot in the New Forest in heavy rain.  The trunks of the trees glistened and blackened by water so that the moss stands out vividly on the surface.  The low and gloomy light making the background drop away to deep shadow.

The greatest joy in photography and the creative process is the wonderful feeling of certainty when an image is saying exactly what you had hoped and visualised  in your minds eye whilst also containing that magical synchronicity of creativity, where planning and spontaneity come together.   Every series usually has one image that particularly exemplifies this for me, in the Stars series # 8 is that image.

RK – A distillation of Ellie’s woodland work – magic, stardust, darkness, light, nature, life, death, eternity. We started working with Ellie back in 2009 when she approached the gallery with an exhibition proposal of her and some of her graduating cohort from the Photography MA at LCC.

Even then with her graduation pieces, Ellie’s work really stood out and it has been a real privilege to work together since that time and see her evolution as an artist and the growth in her career and renown over these last 15 years. ‘Stars’ was the series that elevated Ellie’s work to another level and connected with audiences in a really big way, and this image in particular was incredibly well received. We could have sold the edition many times over!