ARTIST BIO:
DANIEL KEYS
Daniel Keys is a British photographic artist whose work combining analogue photographic techniques, digital scanning and manipulation has been exhibited in major cities such as London, Rome, Berlin, Vancouver, Budapest and Indiana. Winner of Portrait of Britain 2021 awarded by the prestigious British Journal of Photography, Daniel’s striking photographs are a blend of documentary, fine art and conceptual work and are regularly featured in photography magazines.
Through the use of natural or incidental light to convey the passing of time, it is the intense need to document the slow unfolding of the moment that defines Daniel’s practice. Playing with light, grain and composition to create a slight interference of the visual sense, there is a beautiful atmospheric feeling that stems from his photographs.
“I was always interested in highlighting social injustices and inaccurate representations of people. I think that comes from my own history of being from a working-class family and also being a gay person. I was faced from quite a young age with people telling me what I was and it not sticking.”
Weaving his own narrative into his work, Daniel introduces the idea of displacement within one’s own environment creating an uncanny and unsettling feeling in the viewer. At the heart of his reflection is a conscious and slow deconstruction of societal norms and a deep questioning of people’s behaviours to one another. For Daniel, photography becomes a powerful tool to break free from the feeling of not fitting in, connect with people and ask the question - where do we go from here.
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Education | BA (Hons) Photography, Middlesex University
Awards | Winner, Portrait of Britain, British Journal of Photography, 2021
Featured | Shoot Film, 2017; Wertn, 2014; Murn Magazine; Your Exhibition, 2018; Don’t Take Pictures; Film Shooters Collective; fLIP Magazine, Issues 32, 31, 30, 29; Source Magazine London; LIP 26th & 27th Annual Catalogues; Conjunction Zine, Waiting
Exhibitions | Portrait Salon, Peckham Levels (London), 2018; L.I.P Annual Exhibition, Espacio Gallery (London), 2018 - 2014; LoosenArt , Millepiani Gallery (Rome), 2018 & 2017; Salon Des Refuses, Candid Arts Trust (London), 2017; Dreamscapes: A Light and Dark Interpretation, School of Fine Art (Indiana), 2017; Feminine/Masculine, PH21 Gallery (Budapest), 2017; Photo-Forum, The Printspace (London), 2016; FotoFilmic PULP Print Exhibition, PULP Gallery (Vancouver), 2016; Portrait Salon Metro Imaging (London), 2016; Photomonth Photo Open, Richmix (London), 2016 & 2015; 8th Greenwich Annuale Greenwich Gallery (London), 2016
