Danna Margo (b.1995) is a South African multidisciplinary artist. Her work is situated within the discourse of New Materiality, which recognises the sensuous immediacy and life force within materials. As for her process, she employs an experimental process-based investigation into the delicate nuances within matter, specifically the curious characteristics of wood glue and ink. She received her BAFA (Fine Arts) Degree from the University of Pretoria in 2017, specialising in mixed media , sculpture and installation. Margo has exhibited with the Pretoria Art Museum, working with Sello Letswalo on the Dual Exhibition Abolition and the Interchange of Time (2018), as well as taking part in their exhibit for the Turbine Art Fair (2019). In 2018, she was selected as one of Absa L’Atelier’s Top 100 (2018) and in 2021, she was invited by the Absa Gallery in collaboration with Straus & Co, to participate in a Sculpture Auction to raise funds for the Qhubeka Foundation. Most recently, she was accepted into the Turbine Art Fair’s 6-month part-time mentorship and professional practice program, culminating in a group exhibition at the Turbine Art Fair in July 2022.

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My process employs an experimental investigation into the delicate nuances found within matter, specifically the curious characteristics of wood glue and ink, so as to decipher how they operate in accordance with me as well as their inherent capability to create access points to sensitive socio-political issues on a broader scale. Pregnant with meaning, the material used is an active agent that informs every aspect of my practice. Examined separately in order to understand what they could mean together, an adhesive can be regarded as a ‘shape’ substance, sensitive and stubborn, translucent and opaque. This milky white substance has the unique capability of operating as an unseen conveyor of information that has been purposefully engineered to be unnoticeable and forgotten. In some ways this is similar to ink, which maneuvers as an agent that materialises knowledge, safeguarding the past against the present. It is a substance of communication, created to be seen and touched. Interpreting the materials on this level has helped me, not only to work in alliance with them, but to also bend, twist, and break their rules, transforming their meaning in such a way that exposes the fascia of society at large.

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