Manuscript series
Manuscript is a series of abstract compositions that provide an intimate window into the artist’s personal world. Strong bold lines, semi-transparent layers of texture and colour reflect Dani's life.
With chaotic marks and daring colour combinations, Dani has moved away from her previous black and white drawing style, letting go of strict formal documentation of place, to employ a more emotional response to her new surroundings in China.
For Dani, moving to Guangzhou has been a significant change in lifestyle; previously living on the tranquil Northern Beaches of Sydney Australia; her home in Avalon was over an hour from the city, and life revolved around the ocean.
“As I was creating these artworks I realised my lines started to remind me of cursive script or running writing as it is often referred to in the English language. Memories of primary school classes flooded back to me, in which we were taught how to join letters together in order to write more quickly. Later in secondary school, my teachers often criticised the legibility of my writing and encouraged me to revert back to printing letters so they could read my responses better in an exam or an assessment. To this day, I still print when I write.”
Dani’s frantic marks overlay bursts of colour, alluding to an unrecognisable text, a make believe language of scribbles – providing insight into a desire to communicate in her new world. “Yet is the negative space that I actually find the most powerful, both conceptually and visually – it’s the restraint, the quietness and the pulling back that absorbs me. Surprisingly, it was actually the most difficult part to produce.”
“Manuscript” transcribes this rollercoaster journey of Dani’s life as a foreigner living and working in China. The frustration of the disconnect juxtaposes with the beauty in the sense of space - mimicking a gradual acceptance of her new reality.