Dianna Settles
My work examines collectivity in its fullness. Drawing on the worlds that my friends and I construct and occupy, I place them in conversation with other struggles towards liberation throughout history. The compositions arrange portraits of friends—both those living and those who’ve passed—into personal and communal records, imagined presents and futures. Whether depicting an actual occurrence or a theoretical one, they take on a richness that gestures towards all the potential arrangements of a life worth living. My vibrant use of color, poetic compositions, and detailed, quietly playful mark making illustrate this reverence for communal experience. I aim for my work to find paths across others’ experiences, collectivizing, refining, and revealing shared experiences to elevate them beyond our individual dreams and memories.
