DJ | ARTWORKS brings to you the work of award-winning artist Danielle Jacques.

Danielle is a British-born, London-based new media artist. Her work explores altered states of consciousness such as meditation or trance through the mediums of photography, print, video and installation. Her work bounces between the physical and the virtual, between the three-dimensional experience and the two-dimensional representations. Danielle’s phenomenological practice is a constant play between materiality, representation and experience.

​In 2020 Danielle earned a distinction in her masters in Visual Arts: Fine Art Digital from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London. She received the Mercers’ Arts Award from the Mercers Company in 2020. Danielle has exhibited in multiple group shows in London, most recently in London Grads Now at the Saatchi Gallery.

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ARTIST STATEMENT

Mindfulness and meditation came to Danielle as tools to cope with the stresses of modern-day life. Over the years, this interest has ballooned into an inquiry into mental health, perception and the hard problem of consciousness. Her analytical background supports the development of a phenomenological practice, which straddles the fields of art and science.

Through photography, video, and audiovisual installation Danielle captures experiences of altered states of consciousness. She draws references from the cultures which support altered states - from Buddhist philosophy to electronic club culture, from self-hypnosis to psychedelic hallucinations. Danielle produces work that occupies the intersection of the material and the digital, spanning both the real and the virtual.

Danielle’s work is a constant play between materiality, representation and experience. Grounded in contemplative looking, she explores her materials as simple objects to be appreciated for their sensuality; the close observation of texture, form, and colour; all form part of her art practice. By engaging with the properties of ink, water, and light–Danielle has developed a practice she describes as “meditation-in-action”. Through acting in the moment, the aesthetic is discovered rather than created.

Using photography and film, she solidifies these visual meditations, so she may elongate, interpret, and share her experiences. Photos and videos from her vast archive are pushed through multiple modes of transformation, using both analogue and digital processes. Psychology and perception theory inform the construction of Danielle’s work as she explores the relationships between sensory stimulation, altered states, and new media.

Her work bounces between the physical and the virtual, between three-dimensional experience and two-dimensional representations. Each process builds up complexity, bringing new depths and emergent phenomenon. Engaging with the audience, and hearing their responses to the work, is not only consistently fascinating and surprising but also critical to the development of future work.

Through understanding how we perceive our inner and outer worlds, she plays on concepts of the real and the imaginary. The ultimate aim is to create experiential works which emulate altered states and engage the viewer in the sublime art of awareness.