Sankofa requires curiosity: Utilising Black African art to conceptualise the past, present, and future with Divine Southgate-Smith

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In this episode, I speak with our Curious Viber Divine Southgate-Smith, who is a trans-disciplinary artist. Divine Southgate-Smith's approach to art-making is medium, non-specific, and collaborative. This is reflected through a trans-disciplinary practice that comprises photographic collage, sculpture, moving-image, text, poetry, and 3D animation. Central to this approach is a meticulous focus on selecting, ordering, and assembling archival material. Southgate-Smith invites us to consider archives as temporal instruments essential to envisioning a future deeply connected to the past. The work evokes an Afro-diasporic counter-memory blending personal, literary, folkloric, and historical narratives to create layered, speculative spaces that map histories beyond prescribed contexts.

Divine and I vibe about her transformative work reimagining what her artistry is, how it is used and perceived, and the ways in which an Afro-lens debunks the homogeneity within the arts. For example, we discuss Adinkra symbols such as ‘Sankofa’ and ‘Bi nka bi’, as with understanding the nuances of Afrofuturism, and being a ‘data thief’ - or what we prefer ‘data restorer’. Our conversation attempts to challenge our Viber audiences’ perceptions around art and Blackness, and how the past is closely aligned with the present.

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