Irrespective of the form of artistic expression, artists are often trying to use their work to express their own experiences and emotions, and Dannie Niu’s illustration series “I buried my dreams in that summer night” is certainly an outstanding example of this. Freelance illustrator Dannie Niu is originally from China and is currently based in Atlanta. In creating her project “I buried my dreams in that summer night”, she combined her original poetry with her illustrations to complete a deep analysis of her life, exploring the inner conflict between growth, dreams and self-worth.
In February of this year, Dannie launched her first solo show with this project in collaboration with iidrr, a new generation gallery in New York City. Meanwhile, “I buried my dreams in that summer night” has won several awards including Illustration West 61 organized by the Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles and JIA Illustration Award organized by the Japan Illustrators’ Association. Currently, “I buried my dreams in that summer night” has just finished the JIA Illustration Award tour in Shanghai and is currently on display in Shenzhen, China.
The title of the project “I buried my dreams in that summer night” implies a strong emotional dimension. In this series, Dannie Niu uses the intricate line-based drawing style that she specializes in to tell the audience about the complexity of her journey in facing her dreams. She believes that the intention of “dream” is not completely abstract, but is a spiritual companion that accompanies one’s growth, a pendant that seems to be attached to one’s physical body. Dannie said, “Burying my dreams’ is a form of self-protection; if I had given up on my dreams in the beginning, maybe I wouldn’t have been knocked down by the reality of despair.”
Through this project, Dannie Niu wants to resonate with the younger generation. In modern society, young people are often faced with questions about their self-worth, and are constantly chasing after the successes and achievements they believe they should pursue, but during the process, they may give up some of their original dreams, thus creating inner contradictions. For Dannie, this work is relatively heavy, and is her first attempt to create a work on the subject of the self. But Dannie hopes that after admiring this work, the viewer will be able to look back on themselves and face life with a sense of optimism. “What you have to realize is that sometimes even if you bury the seed of a dream, it will still sprout again the next year.” Dannie says this.
After this group of creations, Dannie is also experimenting with new creative directions. She hopes to continue to poetically explore issues of self-worth in her future work. Dannie is eager to represent a part of the younger generation Asian artist community and use her creations to give a voice to diverse modern youth in the future.