David Taylor

David Taylor’s artwork examines place, territory, history and politics. Exhibited internationally, his projects reveal how borders can function not only as spatial demarcations, but also as an amplifying device particularly attuned to geo-political, environmental and social conditions. Pursuing projects that chronicle the changing circumstances of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, he was awarded a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship and has released two monographs–Working the Line (Radius Books, 2010) and Monuments: 276 Views of the United States – Mexico Border (Radius Books and Nevada Museum of Art, 2015). His artwork is in the permanent collections of numerous institutions including the Nevada Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the New Mexico Museum of Art and the MFA Houston. Widely published, Taylor’s projects have been featured in outlets such as Art LTD., The Guardian, The New Yorker blog, Politico, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Places Journal, PREFIX PHOTO, Fraction Magazine, the Mexico/Latin America Edition of Esquire Magazine and Arquine. Exhibition venues include the The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, the MCA San Diego, the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington DC, Museo de las Artes Universidad de Guadalajara, Oficina de Proyectos Culturales, MFA Houston, Utah Museum of Fine Arts and the Boise Art Museum.

Most recently Taylor was awarded a 2019 residency at Proyecto Siqueiros: La Tallera in Cuernavaca, Mexico, a 2019 Arizona Commission for the Arts Research and Development Grant and the 2023 Tucson Museum of Art Contemporary Art Society Prize. His essay "Refuge and Fortification" was published in the journal PLACES in 2020. In 2022 his collaborative work with Marcos Ramírez ERRE was recognized by Monument Lab and will travel to the Smithsonian American Art Museum for the exhibition Many Wests: Artists Shape an American Idea in 2023-24.

A member of the MOCA Tucson Board of Directors, Taylor chaired the museum’s recent Executive Director search which named Julio César Morales to the post. He also serves on the Advisory Board for the UA Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry. From 1999-2006 Taylor worked on the Society for Photographic Education Board of Directors, with four years as the Vice Chair of the organization, and was Chair for the 2002 SPE National Conference, Fact or Fiction: Photography and Mediated Experience, held in Las Vegas, Nevada.