December 17, 2019, I donated 65% of my liver to my childhood friend of over 30 years. Three weeks later, sepsis killed her abruptly overnight. February 26, 2020, I flew home across the country to finish recovering, and Covid shut down the world a week later.

Unable to access proper mental help in the overwhelmed medical system, I turned to art as a form of self-therapy. I used materials I had lying around the house, collaging together leftover house paint, scraps of wood and fabric, junk mail, etc. I started making art to do something - to distract myself from the depression and the mental and physical pain I was in. I often would make a piece while sobbing, then grab a knife and stab it to pieces in a cathartic release.

At this same time, basic human rights for anyone not white and male were in question, police were openly murdering people on the street, and caring about the environment seemed a matter of contention. And all of these are still happening. I took a nihilistic view of the world - that everything is "fucking absurd" and nothing actually matters. And if nothing matters, then I can do whatever I want with my art.

And that's when I found my voice.

My name is Dani, and I make mixed-media, absurdist art.