Dominique White weaves together the theories of Black Subjectivity, Afro-pessimism and Afro-futurism with the nautical myths of Black Diaspora, into a term she defines as the Shipwreck(ed) - a reflexive verb and state of being. Her sculptures demonstrate how Black life could extend beyond its own subjective limits and act as beacons or vessels of an ignored civilisation defined as the Stateless - a realm in which the past, present and future have converged into a Black Future.
Dominique's research reaches back to the sound of Detroit's techno scene, where she continues to reference Afrofuturist narratives (situated in space and underwater) depicted by Aux 88 (Tom Tom and Keith Tucker), DJ Stingray (Sherard Ingram) and Drexciya (Gerald Donald and James Stinson). Her research also extends beyond the tangible, with a curiosity for both the destruction and mythicism that hurricanes in the Caribbean leave in their eternally transformative wake in the sea. Her visual vocabulary extends from nautical motifs such as destroyed sails, damaged hand-woven nets, mutilated anchors and soluble nautical buoys to volatile materials such as palm fronds, raffia, and kaolin clay. She utilises this forceful unification as a means of forcefully dissociating the motifs from their original function and redefining them as bodies charged with retaliation and resilience. These works, or bodies, delicately balance the states of preservation, decay, and destruction whilst emanating the sense that an event has/will/will never take place at any time.
Recent presentations include: Fugitive of the State(less) [solo] at VEDA Firenze (2019), Art-O-Rama [solo] (2019), Abandon(ed) Vessel [solo] at KevinSpace (2019), Boundary + Gesture at Wysing Arts Centre (2019), and Paris Internationale [duo] (2019). Dominique also was the artist-in-residence at Sagrada Mercancía (Chile) in February and March 2020, and was scheduled to be in residency at Triangle France - Astérides (France) from April to late July 2020.