“Dannielle’s work is incredibly fun and personal and yet speaks to a legacy of artists documenting their own lens of the Black experience, especially Black women. Her experimentation with material and representations of Black women give reverence to an area of visual culture that is not always seen in art.” – juror Lauren Cross, Gail-Oxford Associate Curator of American Decorative Arts, The Huntington.

Ariel Dannielle is an African-American painter born and raised in Atlanta, GA. Drawing directly from her life, Ariel creates large-scale paintings that depict the daily experiences of young Black women through her personal and playful lens. She believes in the importance of her artwork to provide a look into Black girlhood/womanhood that can be represented and understood.

Representation matters to Dannielle. It informs the work she creates. She paints with the hope that her viewers not only feel empowered and inspired, but also seen and understood. Dannielle aims to show her experiences in a way of thriving not just surviving. She does not want to be defined by trauma, she believes joy should continue to be highlighted.