Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Trans & Conditions

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b.1995, London) archives Black Trans experiences through animation, sound, performance, and video games. The Berlin and London-based artist’s work confronts the historical erasure and neglect of Black Trans lives, creating spaces and narratives that center their bodies, stories, and futures.

Trans & Conditions (2025), her major multimedia commission for CIRCA, unfolds across digital, physical, and public platforms, the project confronts the systems that govern how trans lives are recognised, controlled, and remembered — offering space for both discomfort and solidarity.

At the heart of the commission is transandconditions.com, an interactive platform guiding the public through a series of reflective prompts — including “WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY TO THE TRANS PEOPLE WHO ARE SCARED RIGHT NOW?” — culminating in the creation of a public letter. These letters are archived as collective expressions of care, witness, and shared voice.

Created in response to the UK Supreme Court’s recent redefinition of “woman” under the Equality Act, the work uses digital space to pose urgent questions: Who gets to speak? Who is remembered? And under what conditions are trans lives permitted to exist?

To accompany the commission, CIRCA presents a series of four limited-edition screen prints by Brathwaite-Shirley — each a powerful declaration of trans autonomy, urgency, and resistance. 20% of proceeds from each print will be donated to the Trans Legal Clinic, a community-led initiative providing vital legal support and advocacy for trans people in the UK.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b. 1995, London) is a Berlin/London-based artist. They received an BA from the Slade School of Fine Art, London in 2019. Brathwaite-Shirley works predominantly in animation, sound, performance, and video game development. Their practice focuses on intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively retell the stories of Black Trans people. Danielle’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions and performances at institutions such as Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (2024), LAS, Burghein berlin (2024), ,Studio Voltaire (2024), SCAD, Savanna (2023) Artnight Dundee (2023) Villa Arson, Nice (2023) Fact, Liverpool (2022) David Kordansky, LA (2022) Project Arts Centre, Ireland (2022); Skänes konstförening, Malmö, Sweden (2022); Arebyte Gallery, London (2021); QUAD, Derby, England (2021); Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo (2021); Focal Point Gallery, London (2020); Science Gallery, London (2020); and MU Hybrid Art House, London (2020). Their work has been included in group exhibitions at institutions such as Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin (2022); Münchner Kammerspiele, Munich (2019); Les Urbaines, Lausanne (2019); and Barbican, London (2018).