Born on Detroit’s East Side, Elonte Davis says he picked up a camera and never put it down. He carries the instrument like his keys – never leaving the house without it, capturing spontaneous, classified and often unseen stories in Black life throughout each day. Davis harnesses an intimacy in his photos that can only be discerned from the nucleus of the culture, allowing him to offer a genuine sense of the breadth of Black Detroit, as well as in other places he has visited and documented. Through his lens, the invisible are seen, heard, and celebrated; their tales in earnest, revealed.
Davis exhibited for the first time in 2021 and has since shown his work throughout the city, including at Riverside Detroit, Irwin House Gallery, ImageWorks in Dearborn, and the Detroit Historical Museum. Some of his recent assignments have included work for the Motown Museum and Rolling Out Magazine. Elonte Davis’ work is sought and collected for its raw honesty. He may be very well evolving into our current-day Gordon Parks.
