DANIEL HANDAL

Originally from Honduras, Daniel Handal lives and works in New York City. He received a BS in Applied Sciences from Rutgers University and studied photography at the International Center of Photography. His work explores themes of gender, sexuality, identity, and representation. Handal has presented solo exhibitions at CLAMP in New York and at the Brooklyn Public Library (Flatbush Branch) and participated in group exhibitions at the New Mexico Museum of Art, FotoFest in Houston, and the Center for Photography at Woodstock, among others. His work has also been exhibited internationally at the Australian Centre for Photography and MKII in London.

His photographs have been featured in HuffPost, Slate, and Hyperallergic. Handal has been awarded residencies at the Millay Colony for the Arts, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Moulin à Nef Studio Center. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Worcester Art Museum, 21c Museum Hotels, Transformer Station Contemporary Art, Kala Art Institute, and the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, among others.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Baxter St at the Camera Club of New York and is represented by CLAMP in New York.

Artist Statement

A recurring theme in my work is the exploration of identity and authenticity, often framed through the lens of desire, representation, and the tension between truth and illusion. My projects frequently examine the ways people construct their identities, whether through gender, sexuality, or societal roles, and how these identities intersect with larger cultural narratives.

Projects like Female Masking and Final Girls delve into gender performance and transformation, while Engaños and Pajaritos explore the balance between illusion and liberation, both in personal identity and aesthetic representation. There's a continuous thread of challenging traditional perceptions—whether through photographic techniques, subject matter, or the display methods I use—creating a dialogue around authenticity versus artifice.

Additionally, the theme of nonconformity appears often, as I reflect on individuals or groups who exist outside conventional norms, seen in projects like Thunder Nation and The World is Bound. My use of historical and cultural references also ties into this, grounding my work in a larger narrative of how identity is both personal and collective, shaped by history yet constantly evolving.