Description

Deadweight is a new body of work by Dominique White, winner of the 9th Max Mara Art Prize for Women, during a six-month residency in Italy.

Published to accompany the work’s debut at Whitechapel Gallery, this exhibition catalogue includes installation photography, texts by Olamiju Fajemisin and Alexis Pauline Gumbs, an interview between the artist and Bina von Stauffenberg, and poems by June Jordan.

An exploration of rebellion and transformation, Deadweight features four large-scale sculptural works that reflect the artist’s deep connection with the sea and her enduring fascination with shipwrecks. Combining force and fragility, the sharp, angular structures evoke material forms – anchors, a ship’s hull, the carcass of an unknown mammal – which also act as symbols of defiance. The title Deadweight, originally a nautical term for a ship's carrying capacity, is inverted by White to signify disruption instead of stability. It symbolises a breaking point, suggesting that freedom might be achieved through abolition.