Gisela McDaniel | Pineptran Istreyas & Akhinos: Solo Show

Dio Horia Gallery presents Pineptran Istreyas & Akhinos*, the first solo exhibition in Greece by diasporic Indigenous Chamorro artist Gisela McDaniel (b. 1995, Bellevue, Nebraska). Created during her month-long residency on the island of Mykonos, this new body of work marks a vital expansion of her practice—one that bridges cultures, mythologies, and geographies.

McDaniel’s paintings reclaim portraiture as a space for healing, collaboration, and decolonial storytelling. Working primarily with women, non-binary, and femme-identifying people, she approaches portraiture as an act of resistance and repair. Each sitter becomes a collaborator, sharing their story through conversation and sound—a process that centers voice, consent, and agency. Rooted in her Chamorro heritage from Guåhan (Guam), McDaniel’s work challenges the colonial and patriarchal gaze of art history, offering instead a framework of care and reclamation.

During her time in Greece, McDaniel engaged deeply with the natural world and mythological narratives of both Greek and Chamorro origin. Early in her stay, she met and collaborated with three Greek sitters in Athens, whose stories and voices are woven into two of the works presented in this exhibition. “This is my first time painting on an island, and it feels special,” she says. “I paint outdoors, surrounded by wind, sand, and water. The show feels more elemental than any I’ve made before.”

Greek and Pacific mythologies became sources of reflection and reinvention—stories of Galatea and Pygmalion, Demeter and Persephone, Circe, Ariadne, Medea, and Sirena, the young girl who becomes a mermaid. For McDaniel, these myths are not fixed tales of punishment or virtue but living expressions of transformation, consequence, and resistance. In Pineptran Istreyas & Akhinos, they become bridges between worlds—between islands, between women’s voices across time.

The landscape of Mykonos directly influenced both the palette and materials of McDaniel’s new works. She gathered shells from the shoreline, fishing nets from the sea, and jewelry from Athens flea markets—objects that she embedded, suspended, and wove into her paintings. These found elements form what she calls “a kind of ecosystem—alive and responsive.” Natural motifs—fire, rock, shell, wind, and water—course through the compositions, evoking vitality, resilience, and transformation.

The exhibition also features an audio work that includes McDaniel’s own recorded story alongside those of others, continuing her practice of integrating sound into her paintings. As visitors move through the space, voices are activated by motion, dissolving the distance between artwork and witness.

Through color, sound, and material, McDaniel creates what she describes as a “physico-auditory boundary”—a sensory threshold that protects and amplifies her subjects. Her vivid palettes and layered compositions evoke life, healing, and the possibility of renewal.

*The title of the exhibition combines two words from distinct languages and worlds: Pineptran Istreyas means “petrified star” in Chamorro, while Akhinos means “sea urchin” in Greek—a poetic link between sky and sea, memory and protection.

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Press Release — English

Δελτίο Τύπου — Ελληνικά