Influences

As part of her Influences series, Phoebe Davies is collaborating with groups of women, exploring current attitudes to gender equality, feminism, female expectations and individual agency. 

“It’s not about whether you wear acrylics or not, it’s an expression of me, a freedom, a subtle suggestion of what I think. How else are we going to start talking about it?”

Participant of Life For Girls, a participant in Nailwraps: Influences

Drawing upon the contemporary culture of nail art, these dialogues and collaborations have resulted in a series of printed nail designs depicting people of personal influence or significance specific to participating groups. These nailwraps are then applied and distributed from a public nail bar run by participants, which acts as a site to exchange opinions and ideas questioning what feminism means to young women today.

Since January 2013 Phoebe has worked with groups situating the nailbar in various contexts and locations, these collaborations include: Streets Of Growth, Tower Hamlets Youth Arts Services, Southbank Centre, Women of the World Festival 2013, Styled by Africa, Late at Tate Britain, Mulberry School for Girls, Regent Street Festival, Summer Streets, Bob and Roberta Smith’s Art Party Conference (an Artsadmin commission), The Open Barbers, Clean Break, London School of Economics and Political Science, Steirischer Herbst Festival (AUS) and SA-UK Season, Johannesburg (ZA).

Influences is produced by Artsadmin and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, and supported by Southbank Centre and WAH! Nails. Influences was initially developed as a pilot project in partnership with South London Gallery and Life for Girls.

Listen to interview with Phoebe Davies on BBC Women’s Hour (21 October, 2014)
Photos collected with #femiheroes at Women of the World conference