Gisela McDaniel - Táifinakpo’. The first Solo exhibition in Italy at Poggiali Gallery

Galleria Poggiali presents Táifinakpo’, the first solo exhibition in Italy by American artist Gisela McDaniel, opened on April 9, 2026, at the gallery’s Milan space, concurrently with Subvert, Repair, Reclaim at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, on view through August 2026. In parallel, in 2026 the artist will present her work in major international contexts, including the Colby Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

Installation View. Courtesy Galleria Poggiali. Photo by Michele Sereni

An internationally recognized artist, Gisela McDaniel’s practice brings visibility to ancestral narratives while addressing pressing contemporary social issues. Rooted in her Native American heritage—specifically her Choctaw lineage—her work foregrounds intergenerational memory and amplifies voices that have historically been marginalized.

As Sophia Thowinsson writes in the exhibition catalogue: “On the occasion of Táifinakpo’, the artist invites us into a universe where identity is not fixed, but rather a living process in constant transformation and healing. The title is not incidental. Táifinakpo’’ literally translates as “without end,” but on a deeper level it suggests “without death.” Rather than a linear notion of time, it proposes persistence: that of ancestral memory and the active presence of those who came before us.”

Through the integration of audio interviews, assemblage, and oil painting, McDaniel intentionally incorporates the voices of her subjects, subverting traditional power dynamics between artist and sitter. Her subjects are primarily women and non-binary individuals who identify as  Micronesian, Indigenous to Turtle Island, Asian, Latinx, and/or multiracial. In doing so, her work challenges and responds to the systemic silencing imposed upon these communities across art, politics, and popular culture.

The portraits presented in the exhibition become presences in their own right: semi-precious stones embedded within the painted surfaces and the exhibition space reinforce themes of protection, resilience, and spiritual grounding.

Conceived as a single immersive installation created specifically for the spaces of Galleria Poggiali, Táifinakpo’’ brings together a total of thirteen works: three large-scale paintings and ten works on paper that expand and deepen the narrative. Taken together, the works invite viewers to enter the artist’s universe, moving between immersion and reflection.

Gisela McDaniel, What has always been within you, 2026, Oil on canvas, consensual artifacts from subject collaborator, found objects, 129 × 182 × 15 cm

Gisela McDaniel (born 1995 in Bellevue, Nebraska; lives and works in New York) is a Chamoru Indigenous artist whose multimedia practice encompasses oil painting, assemblage, and audio interviews. By intentionally incorporating the voices of her subjects, she challenges and redefines conventional power dynamics between artist and sitter.McDaniel has recently presented solo exhibitions at leading international institutions and spaces, including the Ogunquit Museum of American Art (2025), The Mistake Room (2021), and Pilar Corrias (2020; 2022). In 2026, in addition to her exhibition at Galleria Poggiali, the artist will present her work in major international contexts, including 20 Years of MOCAD: A Practice of Multiplicity at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and Imagining an Archipelago: Art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Their Diasporas at the Colby Museum of Art.

She has also participated in significant group exhibitions in museum and institutional contexts, including the Hawai‘i Triennial (2025), the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2023), Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2023), ICA Boston (2022), and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (2022).

Her work is held in numerous public collections, including the Aïshti Foundation, Beirut; Baltimore Museum of Art; Blenheim Art Foundation, Woodstock (UK); Christen Sveaas Art Collection, Oslo; Elie Khouri Art Foundation, Dubai; Frye Art Museum, Seattle; Hudson Valley MOCA, Peekskill; Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Miami; Kadist, San Francisco; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; New Orleans Museum of Art; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; Samdani Art Foundation, Dhaka; The Mer Collection, Madrid; The Perimeter, London; and the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), Ann Arbor.