Film clips and discussion of the eleven films that inspired my "Indoctrination in the Dark" painting series, films that present destructive male-female dynamics, sexual assault and rape as comedy, romance or the path to true happiness.

Part of the RAPE CULTURE VIRTUAL EXHIBIT, "Indoctrination in the Dark" examines Hollywood movies that present destructive male/female power dynamics, sexual assault, and even rape as either comedy or the path to true love and happiness.
The Representation Project:
We are here to change the world.
No matter who you are or where you live, intersectional gender stereotypes are hurting you and those you love. Through film, education, and activism, The Representation Project awakens consciousness, spotlights the cost of these stereotypes, and invites everyone to build a more equitable future.

...We had the good fortune of connecting with Daena Title and we’ve shared our conversation below.... AUGUST 2020

Artist Statement for solo show at Koplin Del Rio January 8, 2011
Celebrities discuss their relationship to Barbie

My work is part of the Time Capsule payload of Annex 9 on Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander, scheduled to land on the Moon in late 2021. This is the first commercial launch to the Moon in history, and marks the first US spacecraft to land on the Moon since the Apollo program over 50 years ago.

NYC Representation

LA, CA Affiliation

Featured Artist

Interview re: the inspiration for my "Indoctrination in the Dark" painting series conducted by Activist and Educator Debra Torok, Ph.D., for her Artists and Activists class at Moravian University. Interview focuses on Supreme Court History and the power of narrative.
"Indoctrination in the Dark" is a series of eleven paintings each based on a beloved film, a film that, on re-examination, normalizes destructive male-female dynamics, sexual assault or rape, presenting them as comedy, romance or the path to true happiness.

April 2018 "Today we’d like to introduce you to Daena Title.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Daena. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there."

Posted April 2018: "Beauty Pageant contestants are particularly problematic. They’re admirable, but objectified. And why are they all so gosh darn happy?"

Artist Jan Nelson and I talk art. Published April 2017 Jan Anders Nelson, Artist Interrupted, Word Press Blog

PoetsArtists April 2017 #84: "Daena Title’s bright, energetic paintings focus on the strong seductive force of contemporary female icons. Loose, powerful brushstrokes and vivid colors help define Title’s fascination with the ambiguous misrepresentation of beauty, feeling particularly drawn to the way heightened expressions of joy can cross a line into an ostensibly distorted or crazy appearance..."

"Point and Share" added to the Tullman Collection Chicago, IL

Posted May 2018: "In the main gallery, Title’s large-scale paintings on canvas are also dazzling...."

23 October 2017
The anticipated exhibition WTF at ArtPalmBeach January 17-21, 2018 is curated by PoetsArtists publisher Didi Menendez. WTF is about women. Women who are painting whatever they want.

To the haters out there who say disco is dead, and to the artsy crowd who debates for hours over whether or not painting has suffered a similar fate, stop talking and start ogling the glitter-happy surfaces of "FREAK OUT!" -- a Chicago based exhibition curated by Didi Menendez and Sergio Gomez.

"Barbie's slight but potent form carries five decades of heavy cultural associations on its diminutive shoulders. In her riveting new body of work Drown the Dolls, Daena Title mines that iconic ground for fresh and provocative meaning..."

PoetsArtists Publication #84: Interview with Elizabeth A. Sackler, art reviews by Lorena Kloosterboer, poetry by Bob Hicok, Denise Duhamel and others. This is a special edition of PoetsArtists featuring Feminist artists. May 2017

50 Women Painting WTF They Want
There are several shows happening right now and yes, let's call it a movement of Women Painting Women. I thought I would show you works by women who go past the male gaze. Women who paint without any constraints. Women who paint whatever they want and in this case, they chose to paint women. Posted September 30,2017 by Didi Menendez

PoetsArtists Publication #86 curated by Walt Morton June 2017

Daena Title paints Barbie dolls drowning in pool water, an apt metaphor for the domestication and domination of women.

Interview by Didi Menendez, April 2016. Freak Out! show at Zhou B Center in Chicago curated by Didi Menendez and Sergio Gomez, 2016

"Who will be crowned Miss America tonight? LA artist Daena Title will have to watch along with the rest of the world to find out. But one thing she knows for sure. Whoever she is, her mouth will be open. Wide."

Available for download at link above. Edited by Dulce Menendez.
Features the art of the NUDE including paintings, drawings and photography. Also included are interviews and a review on Stephen Wright's paintings.

Oct 1, 2015: Interviews with artists and poets. Available for download.

Take that Georg Baselitz!

"Barbie has inspired art from the likes of Andy Warhol and Karl Lagerfeld, both of whom are lauded for their doll-themed works on the Barbie website. Painter Daena Title probably won’t be added to that list anytime soon. In her latest series, “Drown the Dolls,” Barbie is murdered at the hands of anonymous prepubescent girls…"

This is PoetsArtists issue #73 which features the works in FREAK OUT! (Disco is not Dead) at the Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, April 15th, 2016. Catalogue by Didi Menendez. Show curated by Didi Menendez and Sergio Gomez.

Cover and interior art. Guest edited by Grace Cavalieri and includes poems by 75 poets.

When Representation and Abstraction Merge

At what point does the figure in a figure painting lose its formal or narrative dominance? Please submit work that walks this line or crosses over it.

Other decades’ responses, Cubism, Expressionism, Fill-in-the-blank-ism, reflected their time and place. But how are you responding to the individual in our decade? If we are constantly bombarded, have no true privacy or quiet space, are inextricable from our social network and indistinguishable from our own branding and social media connections, how does that inform your figurative work? How does the way your figures inhabit, share, exist or dissolve into their space mirror our place in society today?

Follow the discussion at Ms. Magazine.
"To celebrate the opening of the show, and to start a dialogue on the impact of Barbie on real women’s lives, Title and Ms. are asking people everywhere to share their Barbie stories on video. We want to hear from you! Record a short video of your Barbie story–did you have Barbies when you were a kid? Did you want them if you didn’t have them? How did you feel about them then, how do you feel about them now?..."

MS. MAGAZINE BLOG Review
Stephanie Hallett -- Posted January 2011

POP GOES FEMINISM: GIRL WITH PEN
Natalie Wilson -- Posted Jan 7th, 2011

Daena Title, Beth Grant, Natalie Wilson, Marabina Jaimes, Elline Lipkin and Moderators Stephanie Hallett and Colette Brooks discuss "DROWN the DOLLS", Barbie, and Women's issues at Koplin Del RIo January 29, 2011 For full length version: vimeo.com/19708192

HUFFINGTON POST Click on #10
Peter Frank -- Posted February 17, 2011

From the Publisher of PoetsArtists