‘HER STORY’ (TRIPTYCH), 2020
Giclée print with 1 colour screenprint on Somerset radiant white velvet 280gsm 
69cm x 84cm each frame




Family stories and histories may lift us up and can weigh us down. Inevitably, they shape us. 


 








The project ‘Her Story’ started on an individual level. It was about exploring questions on my own identity making and how coming from a mixed-heritage background, I could find internal peace at last.

As I was putting my family photo archive collage together, I did not think at all about love. I did not comprehend that this was what I was after. That all I wanted, was to be loved and included. Just like any child. Or like the inner child that lives inside any adult as a matter of fact.

Our individual experiences are woven into our societal structures. To deeply understand where we are now, we need to know where we were then. To move forward and decide where we will be, we need to be clear about how we got here.

My work investigates ways in which we can process our individual backgrounds and collective histories together and with love.

How can we all matter, exist and feel safe together and with our differences?




TEXTILES


PAPER 


PRINTED EDITIONS



ARCHIVE



ARTIST STATEMENT




How do we alter and mend the fabric that makes us?

I am interested in recording and revealing the jumble that our psyches manoeuvre throughout a lifetime. The intent of my work is to bear witness to the numerous parts within us and their intricate workings.

This interest translates into a multidisciplinary practice that is layered and transformative. I collect words and extracts that I find meaningful and honest about the human experience.

I paint, draw, handwrite free flowing shapes and lines onto acetate, at times in a repeated and uniform manner. These gestural marks are later screenprinted onto paper, canvas or perspex.

As I use my hands to stitch and glue pieces together, I cannot help but think of my father’s practice as a surgeon and the mark it has left on me. As I fluctuate between text and abstract writing forms, I think of my mother’s unsung efforts in keeping our family bond strong.

I deeply enjoy the meditative aspect and reparative flux that embroidery, collaging and my repeated scripts bring into my practice. These stages allow me to sit with the work and heal my more vulnerable parts. The making gives me the time and space to reflect about the spirit of the work.

“As I use my hands to stitch and glue pieces together, I cannot help but think of my father’s practice as a surgeon and the mark it has left on me. As I fluctuate between text and abstract writing forms, I think of my mother’s unsung efforts in keeping our family bond strong.”







BIO




  • Born 1985, Paris, France
  • Lives and works, London, England

Danielle Anna Selma's practice seeks to manifest a reparative flux while embracing a relentless desire to challenge the status quo.

Coming from a mixed cultural heritage, the artist is interested in language and the affect that gestures bear. Her making is multi-layered and her process a unique blend of paint, printmaking and textiles.

She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Parsons The New School, New York in 2009. In 2016, she trained both at the Royal School of Needlework in Hampton Court Palace, England and at Ecole Lesage in Paris, France to further develop her embroidery skills. She  completed her MA at the Royal College of Art in Printmaking, London in 2023.





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© Copyright Danielle Anna Selma 2024