Outcasts of the Nations of the Earth (2019)

The Contemporary Art Society has acquired a sculpture from Dominique White for Leeds Art Gallery through a special partnership between the Henry Moore Foundation and the Contemporary Art Society, supported by Cathy Wills. The four-year
scheme supports Leeds Art Gallery and The Hepworth Wakefield , which are both in Yorkshire, the UK centre for sculpture.

Dominique White is an artist working in sculpture and installation. The sea is an important ongoing source for White’s work, with the histories and myths it holds, including tales of resistance and protest. White’s own family history of migration from the Caribbean to the UK grounds this connection and combines with the artist’s interests in theories of Black Subjectivity, Afro-futurism/ pessimism and Hydrarchy, which lead to White’s idea of creating new worlds for ‘Blackness’.

Tension and fragility are present in White’s work, which combine found nautical objects such as ropes, nets, chains and fragments of sails with kaolin clay and iron. They create sculptures heavy with symbolism which interact with the gallery space whether placed on the floor, coming away from the walls or suspended from the ceiling, as in the case of Outcasts of the Nations of the Earth (2019). Sometimes immersed in the sea so its residue becomes part of the work, White’s use of materials means the work shifts as kaolin disintegrates and is reapplied or raw iron elements change according to the environment. Her sculptures are both physical and ghostly, alluding to maritime histories including enslavement, and the power dynamics between
land and sea.

White’s work feels especially relevant today, resonating strongly in a time when passage by sea for individuals seeking refuge comes at such a high cost. Her exploration of histories fraught with stories of violence and oppression are equally applicable in
the contemporary.