I feel like I always missed out on seeing classical paintings with Black women. I think, subconsciously, I always wanted to see it. So I was like, ‘Why not paint it?
Danielle Mckinney
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In Sandman, Danielle Mckinney explores the transformative power of dreams.
To Danielle, rest is sacred — particularly for the Black women who inhabit her paintings. Her edition’s title, Sandman, refers to a figure in European folklore that brings sleep and pleasant dreams by sprinkling magical sand in people’s eyes. Channeling this mythical figure, Danielle asks who deserves rest, and who is allowed to dream.
At the centre of the print is Danielle’s interpretation of Le Rêve, Picasso’s 1932 painting of his sleeping young mistress. The colour-blocked cubism stands out within Danielle’s earth-toned interior. Underneath the framed Picasso, another sleeping woman sinks into an olive green couch. Although she is fully nude, her depiction seems less voyeuristic than the exposed breast of Picasso’s subject. By including Le Rêve in Sandman, Danielle emancipates the image of the sleeping woman from the white male gaze of art history.
