Thicker Than Water, 2022 CGI Animation 4K Video Installation Runtime: 12 minutes
Divine Southgate-Smith has developed a transdisciplinary practice that comprises photographic collage, sculpture, moving-image, performance, writing, spoken word, and 3D animation. Her/their approach to art-making is medium non-specific and collaborative, allowing her/them to explore complex narratives through various mediums and disciplines while navigating speculative spaces where things are abstracted, contextualised, de-contextualised, voiced, or silenced. Questioning the traditional equation between sight and understanding, Southgate-Smith invites us to observe and examine visual representations of the future whilst in constant dialogue with the past. Her/their artwork touches on themes of oppression, stereotyping, intersectionality, empowerment, and joy while referencing and questioning articulations of black, queer, and female experience. Her/their practice relies on research and intuition, often turning to literature, music, imagination, community, and archive material as primary sources of inspiration and creation.