White was announced as the winner of the 9th edition of the prize on 28 March 2023, for her proposal of a new body of work entitled Deadweight.
The residency, organised by Collezione Maramotti, is specially designed to inform, support and develop the work through dedicated resources and a tailored programme of research, mentoring and skill-building.
Deadweight continues her key artistic, political and philosophical concerns, with a focus on exploring and creating new worlds for ‘Blackness’, weaving together theories of Black Subjectivity, Afro-pessimism and Hydrarchy, manifested through distinctive sculptural installations employing discarded nautical relics and materials such as clay and untreated iron.
White is fascinated by the metaphoric potency and regenerative power of the sea and this new work takes as a starting point the measure of ‘deadweight tonnage’, an official term used in the maritime industry that calculates how many units of weight a ship can take before it sinks.
Over the next six months White will explore and interrogate the meaning and exploitation of ‘deadweight’ tonnage, its relevance to the historical slave trade and its contemporary forms in the Mediterranean through a dedicated programme of activity. She will spend time in various locations in Italy including Agnone, Palermo, Genoa, Milan and Todi, visiting relevant museums, historical archives and research centres, meeting with a series of experts and working with key foundries and metalworkers to pursue and deepen her knowledge of the production processes, skills and techniques required to develop and expand her vision.
We will be following her progress throughout the residency period, offering regular updates and artist check-ins across our digital channels to offer personal reflections, unique insights and access to her creative process, as well as providing resources for further exploration and understanding of the themes and issues addressed in her work and practice more widely.
The residency begins in Agnone, in the Molise region, with a one-week workshop at Campane Marinelli, one of the oldest bell foundries in Italy, where manufacturers employ the same techniques and materials that have been used since the Middle Ages.
White will then travel to Palermo where she will be paried with Giovanna Fiume, Modern History Professor at the University of Palermo, whose research has been fundamental to the subject of the history of slavery in the Mediterranean. Through dedicated one-to-one lessons and visits to critical sites in and around Palermo, White will deepen her understanding of the historical and contemporary slave trade in the Mediterranean. Visits will include Monte Pellegrino, an important reference point for sailors, and Santa Maria di Gesù, which holds the grave of San Benedetto il Moro (1526-89), one of the patron saints of Palermo who was the son of African slaves but freed at birth.
Dominique White is the winner of the 9th edition of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women. Learn more about her practice and winning proposal, Deadweight.
Explore the practice of the artists shortlisted for the 9th edition of the prize: Rebecca Bellantoni, Bhajan Hunjan, Onyeka Igwe, Zinzi Minott, and Dominique White.
Find out more about the previous winners of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women.
