by Featured Artist:

DANIELLE EZZO

Figure Study 12

DANIELLE EZZO | NOV 2022 | Issue 20

I’m an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. Much of my work begins with using photography as a jumping-off point. In the case of this image, and the bodies of work to which it relates, I reveal the gestures made in digital retouching as a way to both begin to unpack the nature of this cultural phenomenon, but also sever it from its intended industry.

The project also speaks to the body and how we view ourselves through the lens of culture. Instead of removing physical attributes — a bruise, a tattoo, a beauty mark — I highlight only these features. Each portrait is a portrait of “imperfections.” By reversing commercial anesthetization, each image becomes a bold statement proudly finding beauty in what is unique about the individual. The act of combing over the body in this way, choosing to reveal or conceal certain aspects, is an act of unexpected intimacy between myself and my subjects.

Danielle Ezzo is an interdisciplinary artist and writer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her practice often begins with photography as an entry point and leans into new approaches to image-making, the shortcomings of the medium, and the slippages between innovation and understanding. Specific themes vary, but a phenomenological thread runs through her practice.

Danielle’s work has been written about in the Boston Globe, The Tate, and Lenscratch and exhibited internationally at such galleries as the A.C. Institute (NY), The Santa Barbara Museum of Art (CA), and The Far Eastern Museum of Art (Russia). She’s lectured at conferences, companies, and schools alike about new digital workflows and the future of photography. She’s published in The New Inquiry.

Danielle is an active community builder within the NFT space. She writes and hosts Twitter Spaces for @ObscuraDAO and @FellowshipTrust, both of which are organizations driven by and dedicated to the support of photographers and the preservation of the photographic medium on the blockchain. She also interviews collectors for the bi-monthly column Collector’s Corner on Art3.io. Danielle graduated from Lesley University College of Art & Design in Boston in 2015 with an MFA in Photography and Integrated Media.