Dannah Mari Hidalgo creates figurative paintings highlighting tension and intimacy against the backdrop of family dynamics. Born in Hawaii to Filipino immigrant parents, Hidalgo draws influence from her relations and utilizes double imaging and painterly techniques. In her work the concept of the double image reinforces dichotomous relationships between the abstract and representational; the severe and humorous; the depth and flatness; and the tension and resolution.

As both the nude model and artist, Hidalgo subverts concepts of individualism versus collectivism within the prism of patriarchal structures, forcing the viewer to question how these structures assume positions for femme-presenting individuals.

Her work is an unapologetic femme exudation in the unsettling and direct. Rooted in personal experiences and lore, Hidalgo’s paintings make tangible the collective ruminations felt in exploring the fringe nuances and complexities of what it means to exist as an individual apart from a family system and fraught memory.