Artwork: Alison O'Daniel Introduced by Anne Ellegood

Alison O’Daniel’s work reminds us to pay close attention to difference—to take nothing for granted—and to open our minds to how it informs each of our realities. As an artist with hearing loss in both ears, she is highly attuned to the interplay among our various senses and invested in processes of translation that extend far beyond the linguistic into the realms of the aural, visual, and haptic as overlapping channels of information and interpretation. For O’Daniel, the materialization of an alternative reality into a range of mediums is an opportunity to celebrate how what is often perceived as a limitation can be the impetus behind narratives and environments that are abundant, immersive, and wholly stimulating. A slowly unfolding feature-length film, The Tuba Thieves was originally inspired by an unlikely crime: a spate of thefts of tubas from Los Angeles high schools, which carried a strange resonance for the artist.