"Hodgepodge Hideaway" by Dani Wagner, 2024
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 24 x 1.5 inches
www.daniwagnerstudio.com/
@mfcanvastime
Through painting, I trace the contours of my own becoming as a trans woman. The work moves through states of displacement, continual change, and spiritual shedding—gestures toward an authenticity that reveals itself only after something else has been released. Writer Kate Bornstein once described identity as a vehicle—one that carries us from one place to another. Along the way, it may falter, break down, or require repair before the journey can continue. I return to this image often, as it echoes both my relationship to painting and the way I have learned to move through my own becoming.
Each work begins with a free-form drawing, an intuitive mark that becomes a point of departure rather than a fixed destination. Through layers of paint, accumulation, and time spent listening to the surface, the piece's origin shifts. What once grounded the work may disappear entirely, transformed into something unrecognizable yet essential. In this way, painting becomes a reenactment of my own lived experience with change. The finished work does not seek resolution, but presence—a visual record of transformation, and a quiet celebration of the beauty found in allowing oneself to evolve.
Dani Wagner is a creative professional, painter, beauty expert, and digital content creator based in Minneapolis, MN. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies with a concentration in Painting from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (2013) and a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design from Coker University (2010). Since 2010, she has exhibited her original paintings nationwide, more recently at Soo Visual Arts Center as well as Kolman & Reeb Gallery - both in Minneapolis, and her work is represented in private collections globally. Dani's work has been included in publications such as The Alphabet Club Anthology Book, curated by Jamie Fletcher (2016), and Minneapolis' Queer Mag, Issue 2. Having a background as an art educator, she also has a strong passion for teaching. When she isn't busy working in nonprofit healthcare, Dani likes to spend her time painting and advocating for the transgender community.
