Daniela Thomas

Glory

I'm going to #glorify overreacting and create shrines for unimportant things and thoughts that I hold on to. #dramaqueen

My previous work has been all about collecting and listing. I made a book that has a record of things in my room and where the things were placed. There's also a book I created that lists the dates I've been on from a dating website. I really like to document things and take inventories. I have notebooks keeping track of states and countries I've been in, places I've lived, things that I remember from dreams, books I've read, quotes I like, names I like, etc. I just like having a concrete version of things and seeing lists build. I have taken an interest in religious shrines and want to bring that together with list making. I'm also interested in pushing arts and crafts into the realms of fine art and design.

The work I wish to create is a set of kitschy/tacky shrines for things on my list of fears. I tend to make a big deal out of small things so making a shrine would symbolize the fear being put to rest. However, it would still be making a big deal out of its death because it's a shrine. I like the irony. The idea came to me from a movie called White Oleander where the main character creates dioramas for different parts of her life. I haven't exactly worked out what medium I will be using or if these will be in book form. I would like to include book arts in this project in some way and maybe have each shrine be accompanied by a book.

I'm interested in Marianne Petit who creates animated dioramas in antique birdcages and Pip & Pop who created "We Miss You Magic Land" an installation made almost entirely out of neon sugar. I'm also interested in Ed Kienholz who creates grotesque installations that force the viewer to see our disturbing culture and Orhan Pamuk who has opened up "The Museum of Innocence" (in Istanbul) that displays a fake collection of sentimental objects based on the museum in his novel of the same title.