Artist based in Long Island City, NY
Daniela Spector, Portrait of the Artist
Tell us about yourself, what's your background?
I grew up in Miami, and most weekends, my dad would take me to Borders Books & Music (RIP). It was there, in the magazine aisle, that I was first introduced to photography. I’d compile an unreasonable stack of my favorite magazines and pour over the pages in the cafe while soft jazz played over the speakers. Coming from a working-class family, the prospect of becoming an artist seemed entirely too lofty. It was only after a failed attempt at a business degree in college that I decided to transfer to art school and pursue photography. And it would be a few years of working in New York until I actually introduced myself as an artist.
Sana Sana III, 2023-05-14, Mixed Media, 4x6in
“My initial approach to the project was that of an archeologist. Excavating my mother’s life by analyzing the artifacts that defined her life, desperately trying to make sense of her being gone."
Untitled 1, 2025-06-17, Mixed Media, 60x50in
What are you currently working on and where did the inspiration for it come from?
I Forbid You to Forget Me is an ongoing series that was born after the death of my mother in 2019. A few months after she died, I was going through the things she left behind and found an image of my mother I had never seen before. Below her portrait, she wrote in Spanish: I Forbid You to Forget Me. I wasn’t raised with religion, but I was raised not to disobey my mother. And so, on the floor of my childhood bedroom, I began photographing everything she left behind. My initial approach to the project was that of an archeologist. Excavating my mother’s life by analyzing the artifacts that defined her life, desperately trying to make sense of her being gone.
As a primarily lens-based artist, it took me a while to find a way to make work that carried weight to it—emotional weight, at first, but eventually physical weight, too. A weight that mirrored the heaviness of grief. Experimenting first with the fabric my mother had collected, I layered it over images or created shadows with it. I froze photographs of my mother in ice, creating an ephemeral piece that changed over time. In 2023, I began embroidering the phrase “Sana sana colita de rana” onto photographs from my family's archive. It’s a popular childhood rhyme, translating to “heal, heal, little frog’s tail,” that my mother used to soothe me when I was a child. I can’t stop using this phrase over and over again, with different fonts and colors, to frame images from a different perspective, spinning the narrative in a prism.
Sana Sana X, 2025-04-17, Mixed Media, 4x6in
Innovation does not only happen in the field of technology — it occurs everyday in a creative practice. What do you do for inspiration?
I subscribe to Sarnoff Mednick’s theory of associative creativity, that unique ideas are more likely to emerge from combinations of concepts that are further apart in the mind’s network. An insatiable curiosity in my daily life, in the mundane and extraordinary, has allowed me to develop a layered practice.
Researching
Describe your practice and process. Where do ideas start for you? In the studio or being in the world?
One of my favorite places to search for inspiration is the Picture Collection at the New York Public Library. It’s an unparalleled visual resource that contains over a million original prints, photographs, posters, postcards, and illustrations from books, magazines, and newspapers, classified into subject headings—inspiration without the bias of an algorithm, allowing me to browse rather than search.
Sana Sana XI, 2025-04-17, Mixed Media, 4x6in
How do you make your work, does it start with a sketch?
I typically begin by surrounding myself with my family archive and my mother’s belongings. Manipulating and layering each piece to create something new —a collaboration between the past and the present. I’m interested in the deeply personal as a vessel for a more universal story.
(Left) Studio view (Right) NYPL
Many artists live by their routines, what does that look like for you?
I’m very ritualistic, but it typically precedes my creative practice. The rigid structure of my day allows me the freedom to experiment without constraints.
(Left) Sana Sana VI, 2024-04-21, Mixed Media, 4x6in (Right) Work in progress
Who are your biggest influences?
On May 5, 2025, I gave birth to my daughter. My first child. Almost compulsively, I began seeking out mothers who were also artists. Suddenly unsure of which title comes first—mother or artist, artist or mother. I want to understand how they’re capable of severing their focus. Rachel Cusk phrased it with precision, “when she is with them she is not herself, when she is without them she is not herself.”
Are there books or films that are an important source of inspiration?
Currently, I’m reading a biography of the artist, Ruth Asawa. A mother of six, she created many of her intricate works in her home studio, where her children also saw her cooking meals and mopping floors. As an artist who works from home, I find this dynamic interesting - an artist living and working in the same place, weaving domestic life into their work.
How will Innovate Grant contribute to your practice?
Purchasing materials and renting studio time to document my work.
(Left) Untitled, 2024-03-16, Mixed Media, 4x5in (Right) Laying to Rest, 2022-06-30, Mixed Media, 2x2.5in
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
A professor in art school, Linda Phelps, once mentioned offhandedly, “If you have nothing to edit, you’re not shooting enough.” It was a comment directed at another student, but it has remained with me for over 12 years. I apply it throughout my practice, pushing myself to toil away on projects and keep my hands busy.
What is the best advice you would give to other artists?
Remain curious.
Sana Sana V, 2024-04-21, Mixed Media, 4x6in
Stay up to date with Daniela Spector
Website danielaspector.com
Instagram @daniela_spector