Michaela Yearwood-Dan: in conversation with Folasade Ologundudu

Everything Is Connected

On this episode I'm joined by Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Throughout paintings, works on paper, ceramics, and site-specific mural and sound installations, Michaela Yearwood-Dan (b. 1994; London, UK) endeavors to build spaces of queer community, abundance, and joy. Yearwood-Dan's singular visual language draws on a diverse range of influences, including Blackness, queerness, femininity, healing rituals, and carnival culture. Moving freely between media, Yearwood-Dan embeds botanical motifs and meditations within brushy abstract forms and heavy drips of paint. From the monumental scale of her paintings to the more intimate scale of her ceramics and works on paper, Yearwood-Dan's practice frequently reflects an inviting domesticity. Resisting any singular definition of identity, the artist explores the possibilities of creating spaces-physical, pastoral, metaphorical-that allow for unlimited and unbounded ways of being.

This episode was created in partnership with Marianne Boesky gallery. To celebrate the artists’ second solo show with the gallery we hosted an artist talk with Michaela. It’s a warm Saturday afternoon in Chelsea when we sit down to talk about the show, her practice, and some of the ideas that guide her work.