Show Notes
Heidi Zuckerman speaks with artist Danielle McKinney, whose intimate paintings depict women absorbed in moments of reflection, rest, reading, music, and contemplation.
Richly atmospheric and emotionally resonant, McKinney’s work draws on photography, film, literature, music, and memory while leaving space for viewers to bring their own stories to each painting.
In their conversation, Heidi and Danielle discuss solitude, imagination, beauty, motherhood, observation, and the emotional life of painting. Danielle speaks about growing up as an only child and finding an early home in books and storytelling; her transition from photography to painting; and why being alone can offer a way to reclaim what is sacred.
They also talk about music and silence, self-doubt and imperfection, learning to get out of one’s own way, and the women who inhabit Danielle’s paintings—women who are alone but not lonely, who do not perform for the viewer, and who, as Danielle says, “are not afraid to be seen.”
This conversation is the final episode in a special six-episode About Art series presented in collaboration with the Aspen Art Fair.
More from About Art
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Chloë Catán is the executive director of the Lassonde Art Trail, a public art experience set within the landscape of Toronto’s new island and waterfront park.
Zanele Muholi is a South African visual activist, photographer, and artist whose work documents and celebrates the lives of Black queer and trans people in South Africa and beyond. Through portraiture, self-portraiture, and an ever-expanding visual archive, Muholi creates images that honor identity, memory, community, and belonging while challenging histories of exclusion and invisibility.