Martha Davis is a self-taught photo artist, independent filmmaker/videographer, award-winning children’s book author and retired elementary school teacher based in Toronto. She has screened her films and exhibited her photographs nationally and internationally since 1979 and her short film “Reading between the Lines” was nominated for a Genie. It and her feature-length film “PATH” are available for streaming on vucavu.com. Her short film “PANDALAND: Making IT Count” (2022) has won several international awards.
In 2014 Davis discovered green screen photography; her early efforts were with her grade 2 and 3 students, creating and publishing books together. She began writing and photographing her own children's books and was twice awarded the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario Writer's Awards (2013, 2017).

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

DIORAMA DRAMAS
Ongoing 2023-present
Davis created the dioramas to spark conversation among people of all ages about some of the serious challenges facing society at the present time. She makes tough topics relatable by using miniature figures and toys in bright coloured environments. She playfully explores issues like climate change, housing, animal welfare, belonging, technology and more. She carefully photographs each one in her studio before installing them, one at a time, in a light box in her front garden for about 10 days. It is then dismantled and the materials go back into her bins for re-use. The photographs are a permanent record of these ephemeral creations and are beautiful art pieces in their own right. She has been making dioramas for more than three years and of this writing has completed 136. She has developed a small but loyal and attentive fan base in her downtown Toronto neighbourhood.

Davis conducts diorama making workshops for adults and students at various venues around the city. She also holds small group workshops at her home studio.

Davis received the ”Creative Maverick” award from the Mayworks Labour Arts Gala for her work on social justice issues through her dioramasDavis’ diorama work has been recognized twice by mini- features on CityNews, a major piece in photoEd magazine, an interview on CBC Metro morning with David Common and a full page article in the Toronto Star. On May 1st, four of her dioramas showed in an art loop all afternoon in Walker Court at the Art Gallery of Ontario.


DREAM SCENES (ongoing, 2017-present)
Upon her retirement from teaching in 2017 Davis had the inspiration for DREAM SCENES and began working with senior citizens. She has photographed over 400 seniors in a program which she has developed for seniors' homes. (She has also photographed as many children in schools and daycares.) In "DREAM SCENES", Davis empowers people to fulfill some long-held fantasies, virtually, through the magic of green-screen photography. They can go wherever they wish and do whatever they please; they are collaborators with her in the act of creating the photograph. Some look back at a place/event beloved to them from their past, while others look forward to an adventure they've never had. Whichever they choose, 92 is the new 29!
Davis exhibited her DREAM SCENES photographs in the Contact Photography Festival twice: in a solo show in Toronto, May 2019 and again in a virtual solo show at the Miles Nadal JCC in 2021. Several of these photos were also published in PhotoEd magazine in a major article on Davis work. (Issue #73, April, 2025) Davis is available for bookings at seniors' residences throughout the GTA.

PICTURES/PICTUREMAKERS: Lifesize Colour Photocopy Portraits
This work demonstrates Davis’ interest in kinetic energy. Davis uses the layering of images to attain this dynamic choreography, assembling and overlapping approximately thirty uncut photocopies to create the final figure. These larger than life portraits are reminiscent of the figures found in billboard advertising, but they subvert advertising imagery because of the rough look of the photocopy with its intricate texture yet shallow focus and unlife-like colour. Davis collaborated with all participants, each one a colleague in the Toronto Photography or Filmmaking community. Several added personal objects and artifacts and all had a say in the gestures they would ultimately make.
This work, created in the ‘90s, was exhibited then in The Photo Passage at Harbourfront in Toronto, Art Galleries in Oakville and Brampton, the Photographer’s Gallery in Saskatoon, and had a one-year installation at Innis College, Toronto. The photos show the installation at various venues, and the interaction of the public with the work.