Divine Southgate-Smith

British multidisciplinary artist Divine Southgate-Smith works across a wide breadth of media, incorporating installation, performance, sound, sculpture, text, film, spoken word, furniture design, and 3D rendering into her practice. Her work serves as a route through which to examine and rework representations of Black, queer, and female bodies and their experiences. In her hypothetical spaces, her subject matter is recontextualised and decontextualised, hidden and revealed, given a voice, or silenced. Southgate-Smith invites us to take the time to consider the power dynamics at play within visual media and how oppression and empowerment, and social and political standing interrelate. When approaching art production, she is not restrained by media specificity; she weaves disciplines together to provide a framework for articulating complex narratives. Southgate-Smith’s practice is heavily grounded in research, drawing inspiration from literature, archives, intersectionality, and music as her starting points. Her diverse range of media allows her to explore these themes in depth, utilising each form to add layers of meaning to her work. ...

Public is a contemporary art gallery in East London with a diverse international programme focused on emerging artists.