BLACKTRANSARCHIVE.COM/ WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT
1-WEAREHEREBECAUSEOFTHOSEWHOARENOTTina_Rivers_Ryan_2.tiff | Credits: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley. Photo: Tina Rivers Ryan for Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
2-WEAREHEREBECAUSEOFTHOSEWHOARENOTTina_Rivers_Ryan.JPG | Credits: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley. Photo: Tina Rivers Ryan for Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.
3_WEAREHEREBECAUSEOFTHOSEWHOARENOTKai_Werner_Schmidt.jpg | Credits: Kai Werner Schmidt
4_WEAREHEREBECAUSEOFTHOSEWHOARENOTKai_Werner_Schmidt.jpg | Credits: Kai Werner Schmidt
5_WEAREHEREBECAUSEOFOFTHOSEWHOARENOTKai_Werner_Schmidt.jpg | Credits: Kai Werner Schmidt
6_WEAREHEREBECAUSEOFTHOSEWHOARENOTKai_Werner_Schmidt.jpg | Credits: Kai Werner Schmidt
7_WEAREHEREBECAUSEOFTHOSEWHOARENOTKai_Werner_Schmidt.jpg | Credits: Kai Werner Schmidt
Traditionally Black Trans people have been misrepresented or absent within archives. BLACKTRANSARCHIVE.COM also known as WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT is an archive built and designed by and for Black Trans people. The archive's aim was to find a way to more accurately store Black Trans Existence, an archive that would erase us as it attempts to remember us. Culminating in a 3D animated game, the project preserves the stories of Black Trans people generating a space where our existence cannot be ignored. The piece, designed alongside artists Ebun Sodipo, Tobi Adebajo, Jacob V Joyce, and contributors, was assembled from the ground up by a team of Black Trans people using their own lived experiences as the bases for development. From these conversations, all characters, landscapes, and stories were fleshed into a breathing resemblance of themselves.
Using the style of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” as well as influence from PS1 games, visitors are required to reveal their own identity in order to access the work. Depending on how you treat the archive, your journey through the work will mirror your treatment of it.
“WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT”
WELCOME TO THE
PRO BLACK PRO TRANS ARCHIVE
THIS INTERACTIVE ARCHIVE WAS MADE TO STORE AND CENTRE BLACK TRANS PEOPLE
TO PRESERVE
OUR EXPERIENCES
OUR THOUGHTS
OUR FEELINGS
OUR LIVES
TO REMEMBER US EVEN WHEN WE ARE AT RISK OF BEING ERASED
YOUR OWN IDENTITY WILL DETERMINE HOW YOU CAN INTERACT WITH THE ARCHIVE
AS WELL AS WHAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS
BE HONEST WITH THE ARCHIVE
TO USE THE ARCHIVE TAKE A SEAT IN THE CHAIR IN THE CENTRE OF THE ROOM.
USE THE BUTTONS 1,2,3 TO NAVIGATE THE CHOICES WHEN THEY ARE PRESENTED.
IN ENTERING THIS SPACE YOU ARE AGREEING TO CENTRE THE BLACK TRANS EXPERIENCE
THIS IS A PRO BLACK PRO TRANS SPACE
THIS IS NOT YOUR SPACE
THIS IS OUR SPACE
YOU MAY FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE
IF YOU DO NOT SUPPORT BLACK TRANS PEOPLE
THEN YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN
Traditionally Black Trans people have been misrepresented or absent within archives. BLACKTRANSARCHIVE.COM also known as WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT is an archive built and designed by and for Black Trans people. The archive's aim was to find a way to more accurately store Black Trans Existence, an archive that would erase us as it attempts to remember us. Culminating in a 3D animated game, the project preserves the stories of Black Trans people generating a space where our existence cannot be ignored. The piece, designed alongside artists Ebun Sodipo, Tobi Adebajo, Jacob V Joyce, and contributors, was assembled from the ground up by a team of Black Trans people using their own lived experiences as the bases for development. From these conversations, all characters, landscapes, and stories were fleshed into a breathing resemblance of themselves.
Using the style of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” as well as influence from PS1 games, visitors are required to reveal their own identity in order to access the work. Depending on how you treat the archive, your journey through the work will mirror your treatment of it.
“WE ARE HERE BECAUSE OF THOSE THAT ARE NOT”
WELCOME TO THE
PRO BLACK PRO TRANS ARCHIVE
THIS INTERACTIVE ARCHIVE WAS MADE TO STORE AND CENTRE BLACK TRANS PEOPLE
TO PRESERVE
OUR EXPERIENCES
OUR THOUGHTS
OUR FEELINGS
OUR LIVES
TO REMEMBER US EVEN WHEN WE ARE AT RISK OF BEING ERASED
YOUR OWN IDENTITY WILL DETERMINE HOW YOU CAN INTERACT WITH THE ARCHIVE
AS WELL AS WHAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS
BE HONEST WITH THE ARCHIVE
TO USE THE ARCHIVE TAKE A SEAT IN THE CHAIR IN THE CENTRE OF THE ROOM.
USE THE BUTTONS 1,2,3 TO NAVIGATE THE CHOICES WHEN THEY ARE PRESENTED.
IN ENTERING THIS SPACE YOU ARE AGREEING TO CENTRE THE BLACK TRANS EXPERIENCE
THIS IS A PRO BLACK PRO TRANS SPACE
THIS IS NOT YOUR SPACE
THIS IS OUR SPACE
YOU MAY FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE
IF YOU DO NOT SUPPORT BLACK TRANS PEOPLE
THEN YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN
Directed by Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
Programming, coding: Emily Martinez
Contributors: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Marikiscrycrycry, Pacheanne, Tobi Adebajo, Ebun Sodipo, Bernice Mulenga, Ornella Ospino Blkmoodyboi, Jacob v Joyce, Shay P-W, Zamy, Camus-Doughen, Elijah Che, Travis Alabanza, Raks, Arthur Kibet, Vik, Aaron Marlowe, Christopher
Special thanks to METRO Transcend
Commissioned by Science Gallery
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (GB) was born in London in 1995 and lives in Berlin, Germany. They work predominantly in animation, sound, performance, and Video Games to communicate the experiences of being a Black Trans person. Their practice focuses on recording the lives of Black Trans people, intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively retell Trans stories, as Black queer and Trans people have been erased from the archives throughout history. Brathwaite-Shirley’s work has been shown in Arebyte, Quad, David Kordanski, Science Gallery, MU, Barbican, Tate, and Les Urbains as well as being part of the BBZ Alternative Graduate Show at the Copeland Gallery.
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (GB) was born in London in 1995 and lives in Berlin, Germany. They work predominantly in animation, sound, performance, and Video Games to communicate the experiences of being a Black Trans person. Their practice focuses on recording the lives of Black Trans people, intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively retell Trans stories, as Black queer and Trans people have been erased from the archives throughout history. Brathwaite-Shirley’s work has been shown in Arebyte, Quad, David Kordanski, Science Gallery, MU, Barbican, Tate, and Les Urbains as well as being part of the BBZ Alternative Graduate Show at the Copeland Gallery.