Danielle Ellen Owensby (she/they), also known by the acronym of her full name, "deo," is an artist and writer who graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a MFA in Photography in 2017. Deo has shown their work internationally in venues such as the Knockdown Center in New York, New York; Melbourne Art Center in Melbourne, Australia; University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Their visual work focuses on how we can use photography to understand the complex emotions behind trauma, loss, and nostalgia. In this vein, she is also the editor of The Jade Plant Project, a publication dedicated to sharing the stories of survivors of sexual violence.
She has taught in a variety of institutional contexts, from K-12 to private art schools and private tutoring to community colleges. Their pedagogy is based in culturally responsive teaching practices and teaching photography as a tool for individual and collective empowerment.
Currently, deo is a photography instructor at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, MI and is a ProjectArt Teaching Artists in Residence for the City of Detroit. When they aren't working, they love to read and talk to their pet turtle, Raphael.
