About

I'm Danielle (she/her), a Baleng* cis queer multimedia ​self-taught artist based on Piscataway and Susquehannock lands (Baltimore, MD) from ​Yaoundé, Cameroon. I currently work with textiles, ​acrylic paint, and digital media.

The central thesis in my work is the question "whose ​imagination are you living in?", a powerful inquiry ​inviting us to interrogate abrahamic, imperialist, white ​supremacist, cisheteronormative and capitalist norms ​that shape our societies and erode our bodies and ​minds.

*Baleng: West Cameroonian tribe, part of the Bamiléké ethnic group, descendants of the Bantu people

I draw inspiration from my memories, my coming out story, global history, U.S. popular culture, my academic and personal research on racial capitalism, Black womanist thought and African queer studies.

Some reflection questions for us to think about: How can we increase our capacity to hold multiple truths? Where did we learn the values we uphold today? How are we working to close the gap between our values and daily actions? What stories do we tell ourselves about ourselves, the land, our ancestors and the people around us? Which ancestors do we shun, which do we revere? How can we practice accountability in our day to day? Whose imagination are we living in?

*+237 on my logo is the country code for Cameroon

Trusting Memories

The series Trusting Memories is a ​meditation on queer African ​histories, the legacy of colonization, ​personal and collective memory, ​grief, shame and love.

The phrase “tu as appris ça où” ​(translated as “where did you learn ​that”) in my work was posed to me when I came out, which I return to the audience to critique societal ​prejudices against queer and trans folks, ​challenging us to inspect the roots of queerphobia and transphobia (hint: it's colonialism, misogyny and white supremacy). ​This series embodies my ​commitment to uncover queer and trans African histories I was never taught and reconnecting with queer and trans ancestors I'll never know by name.

We were always ​here. We will always be here.