Quick Facts
Biography
Selina Thompson is a performance artist based in the United Kingdom. Her work is focused on the way that identity shapes our lives and intersects with politics, the environment and topics such as freedom. Her work has been shown at Spill, Fierce, Mayfest, the Birmingham REP and the West Yorkshire Playhouse. She has created work for hairdressers, toilets, galleries, pubs and theatres. Thompson is the artistic director of Selina Thompson Ltd, an interdisciplinary company creating installations, theatre shows, workshops and radio work, where she works alongside Sarah Cruickshank, Toni-Dee Paul and other collaborators.
Key works
salt.
salt. is a one-woman show inspired by the artist retracing the journey she took from Britain to Ghana to Jamaica and back of the transatlantic slave triangle. The show details Thompson’s own journey and experiences as well as those of the millions of black men, women and children who also undertook it. salt. explores themes such as sorrow, colonialism, ancestry and home, as a result of the two artists' experiences on board a cargo ship for a three month voyage.
In the show Thompson wore a white dress, under which she dragged objects onto the stage under her skirt, before telling her story. During the journey retracing the transatlantic slave triangle, Thompson boarded a ship that stopped at Benin, Ivory Coast and Nigeria before dropping Thompson and her collaborator off in Ghana. Thompson experienced regular searches by officials as there were few women on the ship. Thompson documented all of her experiences on the research journey in a logbook that included conversations and reflections.
In 2019, actor Rochelle Rose took over from Thompson to perform the 70-minute piece, with Dawn Walton producing.
Awards
- The Stage Edinburgh Awards, 2017
- The Total Theatre Award for Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form, 2017
- Filipa Braganca Award for Best Female Solo Performance, 2017
- Forced Entertainment Award, 2019