Danielle "deo" Owensby (she/they) is a grief-mapper, ritualist, and queer mythmaker working across photography, installation, and interdisciplinary narrative. Her practice explores the complexities of memory, trauma, loss, and nostalgia—transforming personal histories into sacred visual language.
Through self-portraiture, constructed scenes, textile-based installation, and performative image-making, Owensby constructs immersive emotional landscapes. Each project finds its own form, whether sewn, staged, or ritualized. Her work invites viewers into intimate, grief-informed spaces that resonate beyond individual memory, offering moments of recognition, resistance, and reflection.
Owensby has exhibited nationally and internationally, with shows at the Knockdown Center (New York), Melbourne Arts Center (Australia), University of the Arts (Philadelphia), and Grand Rapids Art Museum (Michigan), among others. Her work has been published in Lenscratch, Borderline Press, and Werks, and is held in private collections across the globe.
As an educator, Owensby teaches photography, art, and humanities at institutions throughout Southeast Michigan. Her pedagogy centers culturally responsive teaching and positions image-making as a tool for both personal and collective empowerment. She is the founding editor of The Jade Plant Project, a free publication dedicated to sharing the stories of survivors of sexual violence.
When she’s not teaching or making art, deo tends to her houseplants and sings (passionately, if not perfectly) in the car.
Photo: Breann White
