Dave Lewis was born into a family of Grenadian descent in London, England in 1962. He graduated in Film and Photography from the Polytechnic of Central London (now University of Westminster) in 1985 and subsequently became an active member within the Black British arts movement. Lewis merges the disciplines of ethnography and photography in his work, exploring the complex social networks that shape our sense of connection to a specific place. His art confronts issues such as institutional racism, the portrayal of the black body in the archive, migration patterns, and the enduring impact of the Caribbean diaspora.
Photographer and lecturer, Dave Lewis was born into a family of Grenadian descent in London, England in 1962. He graduated in Film and Photography from the Polytechnic of Central London (now University of Westminster) in 1985, before engaging in community photography projects, using photography as a tool for self-empowerment and advocating social change. Lewis merges the disciplines of ethnography and photography in his work, exploring the complex social networks that shape our sense of connection to a specific place. He challenges viewers to introspection about their own notions of place, identity, and belonging, through categories such as family, race, religion, and the State. Frequently using himself as a subject, Lewis deconstructs perceptions of Black identity, offering diverse interpretations of what it means to be a Black individual. His art confronts issues such as institutional racism, the portrayal of the black body in the archive, migration patterns, and the enduring impact of the Caribbean diaspora. Through his pieces, viewers are prompted to contemplate their own stance on these topics, both in the context of broader global stories and their own personal, private memories.
An active member within the Black British arts movement, Lewis began collaborating with fellow London-based photographers David A. Bailey, Marc Boothe, Gilbert John, Zak Ové, and Ingrid Pollard in 1985. Their aim was to counteract the narrow and stereotypical views of race in contemporary Britain. Frustrated by the pigeonholing of black photographers' work as merely documentary, they sought to explore and redefine the evolving significance of blackness in society. They named their group D-Max, a term borrowed from photography denoting the range of black shades a photographic emulsion produces. The name 'D-Max' not only symbolised the variations of the colour black but also subtly referenced the diverse skin tones, political affiliations, and ideological perspectives of the group's members. The photographers collaborated in order to introduce photography from the black community into Britain's mainstream galleries, to explore the multifaceted interpretations of blackness, and to foster the evolution of a 'black aesthetic' in photography. In 1987, D-Max organised a travelling exhibition, D-Max, showcased at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham and the Photographer's Gallery in London. Lewis presented Flag of our Ancestors (1985), a work that scrutinised the authenticity of documentary imagery and archival materials. It also investigated concepts of national identity and belonging, underscored by the prominent Union Jack displayed in the backdrop, while Games, satirised Africa as a battleground for proxy conflicts.
During the 1990s, Lewis produced photographic series that intertwined personal narratives with public institutions, such as Black Youth and Mental Health: Part 1 (1991) and European Stories (1994). Another important series, West Indian Ex-Servicemen (1994, Autograph London), comprised formal portraits of Caribbean men from the Windrush generation who had volunteered to serve Britain during the Second World War. By juxtaposing these men against a background of World War II propaganda posters, Lewis emphasised that the narrative of British history and its contemporary national identity was not solely white, but was enriched by diverse contributions. In his 1995 series, Who's in...?, Lewis juxtaposed Black individuals against institutions of power, such as the Church and law courts, underscoring the glaring absence of Black representation within these authoritative spaces. For the Impossible Science of Being exhibition at the Photographers Gallery (1995–96), Lewis crafted pieces in response to the ethnographic collections housed in prominent institutions, such as the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. By employing techniques including a wide-angle lens and multiple exposures, he illuminated the inherent subjectivity of these collections, suggesting they represented merely a singular, biased perspective of an entire culture or people. His seminal piece, Chapter Six – Racism (2001), served as a powerful commentary on the aftermath of the tragic murder of Stephen Lawrence, a Black teenager, by white assailants in 1993. In 2001 Lewis held his debut solo exhibition at the Photographer’s Gallery.
Lewis' project, Field Work, was inspired by his tenure as a Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London between 2009 and 2010. In this work, he merged his artistic perspective with the lens of an ethnographer, aiming to grasp the nuances of an unfamiliar culture. The photographs and video, taken in Sway in the New Forest, Hampshire, and Newtown in mid-Wales, presented an ethnographic exploration of place, depicting how individuals perceive and articulate their differences from others and how this feeling of distinction permeates other facets of their existence. As Christopher Wright observed, ’the photographs and video move between closeness and humour, and a disturbing sense of displacement, a movement that characterises many peoples’ contemporary experiences of belonging’ (Wright 2010). Lewis’ work has been shown in many UK venues, including InIva London (2011) and the South London Gallery (2017). He teaches in the anthropology department at Goldsmiths, University of London. In the UK public domain his work is represented in the Arts Council Collection.