Untitled image from project Abscission by Dani d’Emilia. Photographed by Gabz404. Brazil. 2023 - (IMAGE DESCIPTION: A topless person lies on a patch of grass, shown from shoulders to hips. They have healing top surgery scars across their chest and a circular geometric tattoo in the center of the upper chest. Wearing white medical gloves, they hold a large curved amethyst crystal cluster against their abdomen. Their arms rest slightly outward on the grass, revealing additional tattoos on their forearms).Between 6th and 13th December 2025, Dani d’Emilia will be artist in residence at VSSL Studio as part of our current programme, Entanglements of the Apocalypse. Launching their residency, Dani will give an Artist Talk on 6th December (15.30 - 17.00) at VSSL Studio.
Dani’s work deviates from binary logics across both gender and broader modern-colonial paradigms. Their practice explores performance-pedagogy as a site for political practices of healing. This art-life work investigates pathways to metabolic intimacy as an antidote to the illusion of separability.
Dani’s work deviates from binary logics across both gender and broader modern-colonial paradigms. Their practice explores performance-pedagogy as a site for political practices of healing. This art-life work investigates pathways to metabolic intimacy as an antidote to the illusion of separability.
During their artist talk, Dani will offer a brief history of their work with Radical Tenderness, and introduce and open a conversation around a new project, Abscission.
Rooted in Dani’s experiences of hysterectomy and neutral mastectomy, Abscission aligns personal processes of release with larger systemic rhythms, exploring how letting go can be both an act of regeneration and a threshold for transforming broader relational fields and reactivating visceral response_ability.
Rooted in Dani’s experiences of hysterectomy and neutral mastectomy, Abscission aligns personal processes of release with larger systemic rhythms, exploring how letting go can be both an act of regeneration and a threshold for transforming broader relational fields and reactivating visceral response_ability.
Untitled image from project Abscission by Dani d’Emilia. Photographed by Gabz404. Brazil. 2023 - (IMAGE DESCIPTION: Two hands gently arrange large, folded pieces of skin-like, flesh-toned material with visible wrinkles and natural texture, laid on top of a banana leaf. The pieces are surrounded by a semicircle of pale blue orchids with pink and purple veining. The arrangement rests outdoors on green grass, creating a contrast between the organic, bodily appearance of the material and the decorative flowers).
booking information
Satur day 6th December
15.30 - 17.00
at VSSL Studio
︎︎︎ RSVPs essential - Book tickets HERE
About dani d’emilia
Dani d’Emilia is an artist and educator working at the intersections of performance, radical pedagogy, social justice, and eco-relational care.
A member of Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (CA/BR) since 2017 and formerly of La Pocha Nostra (US/MX, 2011–16), Dani teaches and collaborates on projects internationally, exploring how the arts can support ways of staying with the trouble and resisting disenchantment.
Their practice seeks to nourish cognitive, affective, and relational vitality amid deepening social and ecological crises.
www.danidemilia.com
Credits
DANI D’EMILIA as part of ENTANGLEMENTS OF THE APOCALYPSE is co-curated by Mine Kaplangı, Benjamin Sebastian, Joseph Morgan Schofield and Ash McNaughton. Entanglements Of The Apocalypse has been made possible with public funding from the National Lottery and Arts Council England.
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