‘Honouring. Celebrating. Loving. My Collective. All Of It’, (2022)
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On Friday 2 October 2022, as the sheltered chapter of my therapy journey came to an end, I felt sad, proud, strong, scared and hopeful all at once. It was powerful.
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I went back to the studio, played my current favourite Sasha Marie Radio show, Chapter 66 , opened Photoshop and got to work. I wanted to celebrate the hard, deep, emotional work accomplished in psychotherapy over the last year and a half.
I went back to the studio, played my current favourite Sasha Marie Radio show, Chapter 66 , opened Photoshop and got to work. I wanted to celebrate the hard, deep, emotional work accomplished in psychotherapy over the last year and a half.
First and foremost, psychotherapy was a safe place. A space in my life where I was invited to experience all of me: my collective as I like to call it now. Following the Internal Family Systems Model, I got to know all the parts that make me who I am. I learnt to love, celebrate every single voice in me and recognise each as legitimate and with a purpose. I discovered that I could mediate them and keep them a confident unit rather than desolate fragments.
Concomitantly, I was diagnosed by my psychiatrist with ADHD. I was 36 and had long been dealing with burdensome mental health affairs. After the diagnosis came in, therapy supported me in understanding that on top of my personality and its colourful parts, my brain was operating on a different frequency than a neurotypical one would.
Before therapy started, I was confused, lost, broken, overwhelmed. Today, I have acquired the tools to handle all of me and I am thrilled to let each part exist, mature and thrive.
Truly privileged to have had the ressources to carry out this work as well as blessed to be sent a great match to accompany me (my talented therapist), I hope I can give back when the time is right: the tools, knowledge, insight, all of it and more to those who would need it and wouldn’t necessarily have access to it. So they too can possess the tools to live their best lives ♥️✨🙏
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.
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
Deeply rooted in female agency, 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 is currently completed her MA at the Royal College of Art in Printmaking.
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