There are very few places (if any) that support Black Transness. Often we are in places that slowly break us. Through policies, action, inaction, forms, lack of job opportunities. Sometimes it feels as though the air itself is against us. I can ’t remember a time I didn’t need you (2020) follows the development of a city that has been overrun by a mysterious fog. Word spreads that this fog is alive and has a clear purpose. They say the moment you step into it, it begins judging you to decide what to do to you. The  fog's special properties have given the city a new name, ‘The City of Dreams.’
You are going to see if the fog will support your life or if you are the reason the fog has come. 

Your identity will determine how the fog regards you
Your choices will determine what the fog does to you
You may feel uncomfortable
You must sit in those feelings
You may feel seen
You must sit in those feelings 
The fog will change you
You are here to find out how

Inspired by the work of Black Lives Matter, Black Trans Existence, loss, and a call for change paired with a deep love for crunchy early 90s video games graphics, this work combines the two, offering an alternative way to archive this history. The 3D modeled environments were made in blender and textured with manipulated images which relate to Black Transness (from hormone pills to eyes of people within the community). These images are manipulated to become textures from everything from the characters to the road they stand on. These environments were then converted to gifs and using a program called twine were stitched together with sound and text to create the work. The end result is an interactive online moving image work that drips with nostalgia but holds extremely current conversations.

Links: https://daniellestwine.neocities.org/ICANTREMEBERWHENIDIDNTNEEDYOUV2.html, http://blacktransair.com/

Sound, animation and direction: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
Nominated and co-commissioned by Peter Bonnell, QUAD Derby

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (GB) is an artist working predominantly in animation, sound, performance, and Video Games to communicate the experiences of being a Black Trans person. Their practice focuses on recording the lives of Black Trans people, intertwining lived experience, fiction, and interactivity to create work that refuses to let viewers be passive. The work is often seen as a form of autonomous archiving in which the experience shifts and molds based on the identity of the user as well as the choices they make during the experiences.