Art Climate Transition
Co-funded by the
Creative Europe Programme
of the European Union
Artist

Selina Thompson

Birmingham

United Kingdom

 

Selina is an artist and writer whose work has been shown and praised internationally. Her practice is intimate, political and participatory with a strong emphasis on public engagement. As a result, it leads to provocative and highly visual work that seeks to connect with those historically excluded by the arts.

Visit website

Selina Thompson - Photo by Boxed Studio Selina Thompson - Photo by Boxed Studio
“My work usually involves spectacle, it holds it together at its centre. My work is often playful, intimate, urgent and located firmly in the grey area of personal meets political.” Selina Thompson

She was featured in The Stage 100 Most Influential Leaders 2018 and awarded the Forced Entertainment Award in 2019.  Our credits include BBC Radio, the National Theatre Studio and The National Theatre of Scotland as well as theatres across the UK, Europe, Brazil, North America and Australia.

Selina has been described as ‘a force of nature’ (The Stage) and ‘an inspiration’ (The Independent). She believes in the power of art, though the industry is perhaps killing her slowly, and she is trying to build a life that feels like it embodies the changes she wants to make.

When she is not working, she is probably on the phone to her mum, in her quiet peaceful flat, surrounded by plants, her cat and mountains of books.

 

Selina Thompson Ltd (STLtd) is an interdisciplinary company that makes work that is urgent, playful and intimate.

Since 2012 the Company has made theatre shows, installations, workshop plans and radio work for pubs, clubs, shopping centres and performance spaces across the UK and the world. In 2016 STLtd retraced a route of the Transatlantic Slave Triangle by Cargo ship and went on to create Salt, which has since toured to four continents and won three awards. In 2017 the Company was commissioned as part of 1418NOW to begin a major new work looking at radical futures for democracy in the wake of the Suffragettes. And in 2018 they began to write their first mid-scale musical work, bringing together a Hip Hop Icon and the dreams and energy of teenage girls from across the world. In 2020 they are back with new dreams about new democracies, and race and gender after the end of the world.

The Company currently consists of Selina Thompson, Sarah Cruickshank and Toni-Dee Paul, supported by a team of collaborators and the board. They advocate for the rights of artists as workers, and better approaches to wellbeing in their industry. They make passionate, rigorous, political work, full of joy, but with a clear focus on those excluded by society at large. They hope their work will always be characterised by ambition and integrity.

Selina Thompson

articles

Selina Thompson

activities

All activities