In conversation with Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

“I always want the audience to have a conversation with the work. The work only really exists through your interaction with it...”

 - Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Portrait of Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, 2025. Courtesy Stefano Venturi

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley lives and works between Berlin and London. Working predominantly in animation, sound, performance and video game development, and with a background in DIY print media and activism, the artist’s practice focuses on intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively retell and archive the stories of Black trans people. Danielle utilises interactive technologies to create participatory spaces that challenge traditional narratives and encourage active engagement.

Danielle has presented recent solo exhibitions at institutions such as LAS Foundation, Halle am Berghain, Berlin (2024); Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (2024); Studio Voltaire, London (2024); Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève (2024); SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2023); Villa Arson, Nice (2023); HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin (2023); FACT, Liverpool (2022); Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2022); Skänes konstförening, Malmö (2022); Arebyte Gallery, London (2021); QUAD, Derby (2021); Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea (2020).

Danielle’s latest project THE DELUSION runs at Serpentine North from 30 September 2025 - 18 January 2026.

Your new exhibition THE DELUSION sets out to explore the civic potential of video game technologies. What does that phrase mean to you, and how might games help reimagine our social or political futures?

I’m interested in developing spaces that allow people to have messy conversations, ones that aren’t finished or polished so it’s not about a sanitised ‘civic potential’. Instead, these spaces give people the chance to express their feelings in front of others and figure out what they want to say and what their opinion actually is.

Games are amazing for this because they actively help you engage with other people. When you’re doing an activity together, it becomes easier to open up. Sharing an opinion can be scary, especially if you’re worried about being wrong. But within a game, there are rules that guide engagement. It lets you take baby steps forward so you can reach a point where you’re saying something deeper and more honest.

In terms of reimagining social or political futures, I think any kind of media enables us to do that. Games and theatre in particular allow you to act it out and see if your ideas actually work. They give you a scenario to step into, test out, adjust, and replay. Of course, that potential can go both ways—it’s not always good.

THE DELUSION, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, 2025. Commissioned and produced by Serpentine Arts Technologies. © Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Your practice is often deeply participatory, encouraging viewers to make choices and take actions. Why is that kind of engagement important to you, and has your approach to creating immersive works changed over time?

I always want the audience to have a conversation with the work.The work only really exists through your interaction with it. If you invest time and emotions, the work reflects that back.

Initially, my practice was about archiving my community, protecting them, and using choices to limit or expand what you could see based on identity. Now, it has shifted — your effort and engagement shape the reflection of yourself that you see. From there, you can decide what to change or keep about who you are in that moment.

This exhibition also draws on your recent research into online communities. What did you discover during that process?

I discovered that a lot of people are looking for a place where they don’t feel alone. You can find that sense of belonging in all sorts of things, sometimes in communities I’d perceive as negative, and sometimes in ones with positive traits. But at the core people are searching for guidance on how to think and act in the world alongside others.

These communities give people a sense of pride, of being good or right, of not being dismissed. But they also often control members, sometimes manipulatively, sometimes because people really need that structure. Interestingly, the techniques across communities are often quite similar, no matter the mindset. What differs is the outcome: sometimes nurturing, other times damaging to the individual or to others.

IF I KEEP MY EYES CLOSED, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, 2025. © Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Archiving Black trans stories is central to your work. How has that commitment shaped the way you approach storytelling and world-building in your practice?

My practice always begins with archiving a particular group. At the start of my career, that was specifically Black trans people. In THE DELUSION, it includes people of different religious backgrounds, Black trans people and activists. Their voices form the foundation of the world we’ve created, so the stories we’ve built on top are grounded in something real.

I aim to archive not in a traditional, straightforward way, which can sometimes strip away personality. Instead, I try to capture the essence of who someone is, how they feel, and the emotions they bring. It’s more experimental, less about a clear, factual record, and more about preserving the soul of their existence.

What do you hope that visitors will take away from this exhibition?

I hope they interact with an actual person in the space, talk to someone, open up in some way, big or small. I’d love for them to leave with an “I” statement: something about what they did, how it felt, and what the result was. Not just that the show was beautiful, but that it changed them in some way.

BURNING DESIRE FOR HOPE, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, 2025. © Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley 

The [Quick] #FLODown:

Best life advice?

Best advice: get your life advice from someone else. You don’t want to be coming to me for life advice!

Last song you listened to?

BTSTU byJai Paul

Last book you read?

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Can’t live without?

My laptop.

What should the art world be more of, and less of?

More like reporters, less about sales tactics.

Website: daniellebrathwaiteshirley.com
Instagram: @ladydangfua