The Solo Mum

Danielle Milne doesn’t do beige. Or scruffy. Instead, she delights in jewel colours, rich textures, the gloss and glamour of fashion editorials. Walking through Danielle’s solo painting show The Solo Mum is like thumbing through the pages of a glossy magazine. The paintings are a celebration of material pleasures - the ruffle of silk, the lustre of metal, the gloss of perfectly coiffed hair. We are as seduced by the glamour of the fashion as we are by the virtuosity of the painting. But importantly these paintings also have heart - they are a celebration of the relationship between Danielle and her son Henry.

 

Danielle’s practice intertwines autobiography, fashion, and theatre. A cast of glamorous women borrowed from the pages of fashion magazines serve as surrogates for Danielle in The Solo Mum. Sourced and clipped from fashion editorials and family photos, the characters star in stories based on her life with Henry. They navigate bad dates, thoughtless comments, societal expectations, but also revel in the special bond between mother and son. Danielle positions her actors as would a film director, collaging the images together to create the narrative. The cut and paste method of construction remains clearly visible in the finished works, creating a tension with her hyperreal painting style.

 

Don’t be fooled, however, by the slickness of the images - by the glamour and the beauty. These paintings are a massive Eff Off! to the naysayers. They are the comebacks she wishes she’d made; to being told her eggs are too old, that a mother alone was not enough, that they needed a hero to save them. Delivered with a tiny paintbrush, these paintings are a high heeled, couture clad declaration. I am like this! I have felt this! I am enough!

 

Natalie Wood – June 21, 2022

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