About
Photographer Davin Ellicson studied Modern European History at Carleton College in Minnesota before moving to live and farm in a small village with peasants for a year in the Maramures region of northern Romania, home to the most traditional rural life left in Europe. In 2006, he completed an MA in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at The London College of Communication and then moved to Bucharest to pursue stories throughout the Balkans.
Davin has completed assignments for The International Herald Tribune, ART Magazine, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Courrier Japon, Bloomberg News, Intermediair Magazine, The Romanian Green Building Council and EuropaProperty and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Der Spiegel, TAZ, Die Presse, and the books ‘East’ and ‘This Day of Change’. Davin also works with various NGOs in Romania including Leslie Hawke’s Ovidiu Rom and Biblionet, the Romanian branch of IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board).
The recipient of the 2009 Portfolio Award at The Phodar Photography Biennial in Bulgaria, he has also won an honorable mention in Jen Bekman’s Hey! Hot Shot Contest in both 2008 and 2009, honors in American Photography 23 and a Larson Fellowship to photograph in Sweden from Carleton College. In 2008, Davin was nominated for World Press Photo’s Joop Swart Masterclass.
His work was exhibited in Tokyo on the occasion of the publication of the Courrier Japon project ‘This Day of Change’ which organized 132 photographers from around the world to capture ‘hope’ on 20 January 2009, and also in Pleven, Bulgaria at The 2009 Phodar Photography Biennial.
EDUCATION
2006 M.A. Photojournalism and Documentary Photography, London College of Communication, London
2001 B.A. in Modern European History, Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota
AWARDS/HONORS
2009 Honorable mention in Jen Bekman Gallery’s Hey, Hot Shot! contest
2009 Selected participant at Eddie Adams Workshop
2009 PHODAR Biennial Portfolio Award
2009 Nomination for Joop Swart Masterclass
2008 Nomination for PDN’s 30
2008 Honorable mention in Jen Bekman Gallery’s Hey, Hot Shot! contest
2008 Finalist in Photolucida’s Critical Mass Awards
2008 Selected participant at Review Santa Fe
2007 American Photography 23
2001 Larson Fellowship from Carleton College to photograph Saami Reindeer Herders in Sweden
1994 Gold Award, The Scholastic Art Awards, National level
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009 Chance Encounters, PHODAR Photography Biennial, Ilia Beshkov Art Gallery,
2009 This Day of Change, Shinjuku’s Takashimaya Department Store’s second floor, Tokyo, Japan, 29 April to May 31
2009 EastWestLicht, Schauplatz für Fotografie, Vienna, May
2008 EAST, Brick5, Vienna, Austria
2006 MA Degree Show, The London College of Communication, London, UK
2005 Focused, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, Washington, USA
2005 Faith to Face, Bourse du Travail, Perpignan, France
2005 Voies Off Fringe Festival at Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie, Arles, France
PUBLICATIONS
2010 Bucharest Biennale, ART Magazine, June
2010 ‘Romanian Economy’, Bloomberg News, 14 January
2009 “Transformed: Academe in Eastern Europe 20 years after the fall of Communism”, The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 25
2009 Concluziile unui American dupa un an de muls vaca in Maramures, Gandul, 18 September
2009 “A U.S. Hog Giant Transforms Eastern Europe”, The New York Times,
2009 “This Day of Change 1/20”, image in Courrier Japon English version, Kodansha Limited, Tokyo,
2009 “This Day of Change 1/20”, 4 images in Courrier Japon Japanese version, Kodansha Limited,
2009 Maramures-Folk Culture on Europe’s Eastern Fringe’, pp. 256-263, Vision Magazine, April
2009 ‘Chinese Immigrants Stranded in Romania’, Der Spiegel, 23 March
2009 ‘A Crisis Is Separating Eastern Europe’s Strong from Its Weak’, The New York Times, B1, 24 February
2009 ‘Romanian Economy’, Bloomberg News, 16 February
2009 “Russia, Ukraine Resume Talks to Resolve Gas Dispute”, Bloomberg News, 8 January
2008 ‘Siebenburgen, Rumänien’, Die Presse, 6 December
2008 ‘Maramures, Romania’, TAZ Newspaper, 13 September
2008 “Longing for Maramures”, portfolio in EAST, Moser Verlag, Munich
2007 “An Alphabet of Disappearance”, p. 37, DU Magazine, December,
2007 “Jong in Oost-Europa: ‘De markt is goed voor ons’, Intermediair Magazine, 20 September
2006 “Romania: Intangible Heritages of Humanity”, issue 13, Blueeyes Magazine,
2006 “Mysteries of Maramures”, pp. 50-55, Diplo Magazine
2001 “Portraits of Change”, Carleton College Voice, Spring 2001
PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Colin Hough Trapp, Rizzoli Art Publications, New York
PHOTOGRAPHY RELATED WORK
2010 Ongoing collaboration as a photography consultant and photographer for the Romanian branch of the American NGO IREX (International Research and Exchanges Board).
2009 Collaboration as a photographer documenting the activities of Leslie Hawke’s NGO Ovidiu Rom in Romania which seeks to help put impoverished children in school.
