Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley and R.I.P. Germain in conversation

About

Brathwaite-Shirley and Germain will discuss their work and recent commissions, focusing on the production, fabrication and installation of their work, as well as their approaches to storytelling and world-building within their practices.

Brathwaite-Shirley works predominantly in animation, sound, performance and video games to communicate the experiences of being a Black Trans person. Her practice focuses on intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively retell Trans stories and build an ongoing archive of erased Trans lives for the past, present and future.

R.I.P. Germain’s work draws from multiple genres of Black experience, history and culture – personal and collective, seeking to make art that is rigorous about his commitments and possibilities as a Black artist.

This event is part of Brathwaite-Shirley's ongoing research and production residency at Studio Voltaire, which will culminate in a solo commission at Studio Voltaire in January 2024.

About Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
Danielle Brathwaite–Shirley (b. 1995, UK) lives and works between London and Berlin. In 2020, Brathwaite-Shirley produced a solo performance at Tate Modern, London. Recent solo exhibitions have taken place at Focal Point Gallery, London (2020); Science Gallery, London (2020), MU Hybrid Art House, London (2020), arebyte, London (2022) and FACT (Foundation for Art & Creative Technology), Liverpool (2022). Group exhibitions include Re$$urection Lands, Les Urbaines, Lausanne, Switzerland (2019); BBZ GRADUATE SHOW, Copeland Gallery, London (2019); and Transpose: The Future, Barbican, London (2018).

About R.I.P. Germain

R.I.P. Germain’s practice traffics in double meanings, deep resonances and a tension between accessibility and occlusion. Trickster and guide, he tries to dance a fine line: making work that speaks to deep truths without cheapening them with explanations or flattening them out for easy consumption. Sedimented with layers dense with cultural meaning and reference, the extensive research undergirding R.I.P. Germain’s work draws from multiple genres of Black experience, history and culture – personal and collective, seeking to make art that is rigorous about his commitments and possibilities as a Black artist.

R.I.P. Germain has exhibited internationally and recent exhibitions include; Cubitt 30, a group show presented by Cubitt at Victoria Miro in London, UK; The Exhibition Formerly Known As “Trace Image” at Deborah Schamoni, Munich, Germany; Shimmer, a solo show at Two Queens in Leicester, UK; Four Bedrooms With An En Suite, A Garage & Garden In A Nice Neighbourhood, a solo show at V.O Curations in London, UK; Supastore Southside, Slingbacks & Sunshine, a group show hosted by Sarah Staton at South London Gallery; Ways of Living #2, a group show presented by Arcadia Missa at NICO in Bari, Italy; Dead Yard, a solo show at Cubitt in London, UK; Double 6 with Ashley Holmes in the former courtroom at Leeds Town Hall in Leeds, UK; and Gidi Up, a solo show at Peak in London, UK. R.I.P. Germain was also the recipient of the ICA Image Behaviour 2021 prize, which culminated in his first short film mew premiering at the ICA in 2022.

Image credit

The Birth Of Transness, 2022. Courtesy the artist.