Out of adversity comes opportunity for Dannielle Hodson

Out of adversity comes opportunity is an apt way, albeit cliched, to describe the career of Danielle Hodson.

The London based artist is currently exhibiting her first show, is about to launch her own personal website and will be showing in London later this year.

It's a remarkable turnaround for Dannielle, who just over a year ago was serving time in jail. It is a period that she wants to put behind her and a process which has been helped by her work as an artist. "It was very cathartic doing this work. It helped me to get the experience out of my system and create a positive from a negative," she says.

Yet her experiences have also inspired Dannielle. "Prison has affected my work, there are diary elements and the titles are sometimes reference to this," she explains. "The welcome mat series entitled 'If I let you in will you promise not to walk all over me' is

reference to that, the same as the cake called 'Eat me'. I wanted to question how people treat each other. By inviting people to walk all over me will they accept or will they think twice? Will they eat the cake and enjoy it or pretend to and then throw it away?"

The exhibition currently on show at Chichester's Pallant House Gallery is made up of self portraits that Dannielle created with materials varying from oil to broken glass. "The exhibition is called 'Generosity' and is about giving yourself and being the most someone can give but then questioning what is it that you're giving," says Dannielle. "I would say the work is heartfelt as it all contains a piece of me and my story.

"Exhibiting in the Pallant House Gallery is a great start to my career, it gave me a lot of confidence and purpose after such a hard time," she says. Next up is an exhibition at the Red Gallery on Rivington Street in November while Dannielle also revealed an ambition that may be harder to fulfil: "I would also love to teach the world to doodle!" With this artist, don't rule it out.

The exhibition at Chichester's Pallant House Gallery runs until 31 October. You can visit Dannielle's website by at www.danniellehodson.com.