Daniel-José Cyan
I'm a multi-disciplinary artist with a refusal to be boxed to one category of art. As an MDiv and MSW Candidate, I wholeheartedly believe storytelling and connection are explored in various mediums.
I've explored many kinds of art in my life, but started exploring photography as a means of art/expression in 2014.
I first started with capturing photos of aesthetically pleasing things and then eventually people. Growing up in NYC, I have been very privileged to be exposed to many opportunities to start and grow my art skills. My time in an internship called Xposure gave me access to Photoville (where I would have my first public exhibition), but it tapped into something I had yet to explore with still images: narrative.
photography eventually became one of the mediums I used to express my life story and varying and changing identities. My latest projects have been exploring my everchanging and evergrowing sense of spirituality. I've become most interested in using the camera lens to explore the connections with the divine, including what we forget is sacred: Earth and the things we humans create.
I graduated with a bachelor of arts in film from Hunter College in 2020 where i learned how to use a camera to better tell the stories I want to tell. Although the pandemic and then eventual grad school slowed my production and exhibiting, I continue to foster my love for art off-web, ready to share new projects soon.
In December of 2024, i pulled together my first independent art showcase titled "Ethereal". the goal was to give artists that lived in the intersections of being bipoc, trans/gender-non conforming, and immigrants/first-generation a space to show their art. I'm proud of holding these identities myself, and my lived story is what continues to encourage my devotion to foster space for storytelling.
I hope to continue making and cultivating spaces for artists that are strategically and societally silenced.
To see my film work, visit: cyanprod.myportfolio.com
To contact me directly, email:
d.cyanphotography@gmail.com