Danielle Jacques

MA Fine Art Digital – Camberwell College of Arts, 2020

Danielle’s work captures experiences of altered states of consciousness – such as meditation or trance – through the media of photography, video, and audio-visual installations. References are drawn from cultures that support altered states; from Buddhist philosophy to electronic club culture, from self-hypnosis to psychedelic hallucinations.

Her process is a form of meditation-in-action, where the act of mindfulness allows her to free herself from the self-consciousness of the ego. By acting in the moment the aesthetic is discovered rather than created. Documenting her actions through photography and video allows Danielle to solidify these visual meditations, so that she may elongate, interpret, and share the experience.

The key materials that currently enable Danielle’s process are ink, water, and light; dispersing, diffusing, diffracting, and embracing the unexpected. She maintains an openness of perception, observing and manipulating materials with wide-eyed curiosity. After the collation of photos and videos she engages in multiple modes of transformation, using both analogue and digital processes; layering, reflecting, stretching, scaling, and looping. Her aim is strike a balance between discipline and freedom, between chance and choice, between order and chaos.

Psychology and perception inform the construction of Danielle’s work as she explores the relationships between sensory stimulation, altered states, and illusion. Through understanding how we perceive our inner and outer world she plays on concepts of the real and the imaginary. The ultimate aim is to create experiential works that induce altered states and mild visual hallucinations in the viewer. Engaging with the audience, and hearing their unique responses to the work, is not only consistently fascinating and surprising but also critical to the development of future work.

Awards and residencies:

Winner of 'The Mercers’ Arts Awards 2020'

Instagram: @djartworks

“Ultimately, I am interested in widening the circle of shared attention [relating] to our understanding of consciousness. By shining a light on one of the great unknowns of the universe, perhaps I can play my small part in the ancient project of expanding human cognition and [enhancing] human culture.”

Browse Danielle's Work