In a cool violet-blue bedroom, a young Black woman, the artist Ariel Dannielle herself, sits at a glassy vanity table facing us, her body cropped at the chest. Very short, bleached waves of hair hug her scalp, framing pink eyeshadow, winged liner, and glossy lips she paints with a raised lipstick. Her brown skin is modeled in rosy highlights, a floral tattoo curling over one shoulder and thin gold chains at her bare collar. Behind her, a carved headboard crowns a rumpled bed stacked with pillows. Framed flower studies, purple sconces, and a vase of red blossoms glow against a mottled night-sky wall. On a table, a mirror, wine glass, brushes, palettes, creams, lashes, and sprays cluster into a busy field of self-care tools. Dannielle paints herself mid-routine, centering a beauty ritual that is usually private and brief. The large scale turns getting ready into something monumental, honoring the time Black women spend tending to their own image and comfort. Atlanta-born, she uses self-portraiture to frame Black millennial womanhood. The “glittery veil” is makeup, but also a shield she chooses, a way to meet the world on her terms. Part of her Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (MOCA GA) exhibition “It Started So Simple,” the painting joins a series of interior scenes where wine, flowers, skin care, and soft bedding signal rest, pleasure, and Black joy rather than trauma. Her steady gaze invites us in yet insists she remains the author of how she is seen.
“A Glittery Veil” by Ariel Dannielle (American) - Acrylic on unstretched canvas / 2019 - Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia (Atlanta) #WomenInArt #art #artText #ArielDannielle #Dannielle #MOCAGA #BlackArt #BlueskyArt #arte #AfricanAmericanArtist #WomensArt #WomanArtist #WomenArtists #SelfPortrait
