These topics are uncomfortable, in that they’re often deeply personal and associated with shame, embarrassment, frustration, sadness, and silence. - Danielle Freiman
These topics are uncomfortable, in that they’re often deeply personal and associated with shame, embarrassment, frustration, sadness, and silence. - Danielle Freiman
DANIELLE FREIMAN
Danielle Freiman is an interdisciplinary artist and designer based in San Francisco, CA. She received her B.F.A. from the Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) at Massachusetts College of Art and Design with an emphasis in assemblage and installation. Her work is motivated by her personal experiences with mental health, chronic pain, queerness, and reproductive health, taking the form of zines (self-published books), printed materials, and workshops.
Part #1 - LABA PROJECT
winter 2023
Advanced Camouflage Techniques for the Built Environment
paint marker on wall, printed zine
In Advanced Camouflage Techniques for the Built Environment, Danielle Freiman examines the deeply personal, tragic, mysterious, and sometimes humorous aspects of living with conditions that are chronic, invisible, and often undiagnosable or incurable. Through writing, illustration, and mixed media imagery in the form of a limited edition zine and enlarged wall text, she shares an intimate portrait of her experience in order to make these stories known and visible.
“What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.”
—Ecclesiastes 1:15
Part #1 - Explore
Spring 2023
We are 1/3 through the year-long LABA fellowship. Tell me what you are thinking so far about the theme of TABOO and your current project idea inspired by it.
Over the last year, I have been collecting poetry and writing for a project titled Advanced Camouflage Techniques for the Built Environment, centered around the idea of a manual for “invisible” illnesses and conditions which have become more prominent in mainstream media with the rise of long-COVID and complications surrounding chronic care. This project will take the form of a zine and audio or performance component with contributions from other artists. I believe there’s an incredible opportunity to open up this discussion as it relates to taboo and what’s willing to become visible in the process.
My work is motivated by my personal experiences with mental health, chronic pain, queerness, and reproductive health, taking the form of zines (self-published books), prints, and workshops. These topics are uncomfortable, in that they’re often deeply personal and associated with shame, embarrassment, frustration, sadness, and silence. There are whole systems built to avoid talking about mental health, reproductive health, etc. However, I believe that creation happens in the discomfort, and am interested in continuing to explore these and other topics with others in the hope of bringing new narratives to light.
IMAGE: “Tender” buttons by Danielle Freiman
