GISELA MCDANIEL

The Independent Bodies Rejecting Othering

McDaniel’s work begins her portraits with conversations with, what she terms, ‘subject-collaborators,’ building mutual empathy and discussing their particular life experience or story. The recorded voices from these conversations become a core component of the portraits she creates, existing as an audio recording alongside the painting. The artist’s mother, a CHamoru scholar and activist, shared with her since she was little that ‘our bodies are good and, the above all, they are ours.’ Each painting uniquely depicts the natural form of the body in a free and dynamic manner. Gisela McDaniel’s subject-collaborators present their own narratives to the outer world with a proactive attitude, resisting various forms of discrimination and violence against minorities.

Synaesthetic Paintings Combining of Image, Objects, and Sound – Exposing Individual Identities

Gisela McDaniel’s paintings incorporate the subject-collaborator’s personal belongings and voices as essential elements. McDaniel presents the intimate narratives of each individual in a multidimensional and synaesthetic manner to her audience. Her body of work, which artistically blends fluorescent colours reminiscent of the radiant light of nature with the vivid voices of subject-collaborators, reminds us of the unique individuality of everyone living in the contemporary era. She combines images, objects, and sound—to depict a portrait of her subject-collaborators on canvas. Each painting strives to encapsulate the unique identity of that person. She refers to the small items received from each subject during the creative process as ‘consensual artefacts’ and integrates them into her works. These include personal items such as keys or a necklace, and parts of the body like hair or gel nails. The consensual artefacts not only carry traces of daily life but also subtly reveal personal preferences, individual histories, and cultural backgrounds.