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Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley creates artwork that archives the experiences of Black Trans people, and communities who can be otherwise underserved. In an immersive installation, Danielle opens access to new worlds designed with The Bandidos, a group of young people from Liverpool. They began the project by considering three simple questions: how would you redesign Liverpool for your community? What does your world need? And, what rules does your world have?

Entering past a bus shelter displaying a set of terms and conditions, the gallery houses a suburban city street: lamp posts, buildings and public spaces have been hacked and transformed, transporting us into the architecture of a new world. Avatars of the young people watch over from above. Housed within four zones are chapters of an online video game created by Danielle and The Bandidos.

For The Bandidos, the game world ‘represents all of us individually, and all of us as a group’. Their Liverpool is transformed into four worlds: one made from meat, where dragons headline stadium gigs; a utopian colony where queer feminists and communists can exist freely; a theme park where those who work the land are kept in poverty; and a series of portals found in dance clubs that allow us to travel between the past and the present to experience the journeys of enslaved people.

The game and gallery encourage exploration and learning: a space that offers a reshaping of the rules and systems that frame our lives. The work prompts us to consider how we live together, how we represent ourselves, and how others receive us.

You are entering a space that is not yours. A space that may not centre you. Be yourself, and we will find out your place here.

Download the transcript below.

Video Game Transcript | When Our Worlds Meet (2022) | Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

Download the resource below to use as a map to help you to find your way around the game and understand the worlds within it.

Learning Resource