Holly Davey: Recent Acquisition

Image Credit: Holly Davey, In Plain Sight (Miss Jenkins? – after Richard Wilson), 2024.
Photo Credit: Rhian Israel

We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Holly Davey’s In Plain Sight (Miss Jenkins? – after Richard Wilson), 2024, by Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales

Commissioned by Ffotogallery for Ffoto Cymru 2024, the work forms part of Holly Davey’s wider exploration of visibility, constructed identities and feminist re-readings of art history.

Responding to Dolbadarn Castle (1760–65) by Richard Wilson, Davey examines the relationships between photography, performance and representation through carefully staged image-making and subtle acts of intervention. Beneath Wilson’s painting, hidden for more than three centuries, conservators discovered an obscured portrait through x-ray analysis — a figure thought possibly to be “Miss Jenkins?”, though her identity remains uncertain.

Drawing from this hidden history, Davey repositions the unknown sitter within a contemporary context, inviting renewed consideration of authorship, gender, absence and visibility within museum collections and wider cultural narratives.

Originally presented during Ffoto Cymru 2024, the work occupied Gallery 4 and celebrated those who remain unnoticed, unheard or unseen within collection spaces and beyond.

We are delighted to see this significant work become part of the national collection.

Image credit: Holly Davey, In Plain Sight (Miss Jenkins? – after Richard Wilson), 2024.
Photo credit: Rhian Israel.