Ken

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This project began with an archive and a discovery. Sara Davidmann and her siblings inherited letters and photographs from their uncle and aunt, Ken and Hazel Houston, through their mother, Audrey Davidmann. The letters detail Ken and Hazel's relationship, revealing that Ken, an optician in Edinburgh, was transgender, a fact that profoundly impacted their marriage and social interactions in 1950s Britain. Despite this, they remained together from 1954 until Ken’s death and had no children. The archive includes correspondence between Hazel and Audrey in the late 1950s and early 60s, documenting their private lives. While Ken publicly identified as a man, he lived as a woman at home. In response to the letters and family photographs, Sara Davidmann created a new series of photographs using various techniques, including analogue and digital processes. Reflecting on the vintage photographs, she noted the significance of their surfaces, where time and damage had left marks. This realization inspired her to alter the surfaces of her new photographs with ink, chalks, hand coloring, and other materials. Through series such as ‘The Dress’, ‘Closer’, ‘Dealt with in Scotland’, and ‘Looking for K/Finding K’, Davidmann explores the intersection of art practice and archival investigation.