We watched the day grow older is an exhibition of paintings by Lara Davies which are all connected to the story of a journey. 

The interplay between place, memory and personal history is central to Lara Davies’ work. In the spring of 2023, the artist traced the length of the UK on her bicycle travelling from Land’s End to John o’Groats. She was inspired to embark on this trip by her late great-aunt Margie, who made the same journey on horseback in 1949, when she was just 24 years old.

Taking this 1231-mile trip by bicycle served as a personal pilgrimage for Davies, allowing her to connect with this heroic tale from her family history, and the topography of the British Isles. The resulting paintings are imbued with a dreamlike aesthetic, where lochs, hillsides, seascapes and cloud formations appear as though in motion, transitory and ephemeral. 

Lara Davies (b. 1985) graduated from the Royal College of Art in London in 2022. Her work is held in the collections of the Contemporary Art Society for Wales (CASW), UK as well as several private collections in the UK, USA and France. She has exhibited at The Saatchi Gallery, London; Canopy Collections, London; Alma Pearl, London; The Walker Museum, Liverpool (The John Moores Painting Prize).