Dan Guthrie

Dan Guthrie is an artist and writer whose practice explores representations and mis-representations of Blackness, questioning not only what is shown, but what remains unseen. Responding to subjects as varied as family photographs, parish records and racist caricatures, his moving image work has employed strategies such as refusal, critical fabulation, erasure and concealment to discuss and dissect subjects without directly showing them on screen. He has an ongoing interest in the use of audiovisual access materials as a site for experimenting with image interpretation.

His latest project, Empty Alcove / Rotting Figure, was co-commissioned by Spike Island, Bristol and Chisenhale Gallery, London, and toured both venues in 2025, with the accompanying online platform earf.info publishing new writing by Guthrie and invited contributors throughout the year. His earlier work has been screened widely across the UK as well as internationally at film festivals including IFFR, Prismatic Ground and Berlinale, and his writing has been published by Arcadia Missa, Art Monthly and The Guardian, amongst others.

Selected exhibitions and screenings include: 'DINAMO: Obscurity', IFFR, Rotterdam, 2026; 'Toward the Forest', Forma, London, 2025; 'CIRCA PRIZE 2025', CIRCA, London, 2025; 'Empty Alcove / Rotting Figure', Spike Island, Bristol and Chisenhale Gallery, London, 2025 (solo); 'Absent Forces', Open City Documentary Festival, London, 2024; 'Two Films', Devonshire Collective, Eastbourne, 2023 (solo); 'Spirit Messages' international touring programme, aemi, 2023 – 2024; 'Selected 13' UK touring programme, FLAMIN and videoclub, 2023; 'Year 3', Prismatic Ground, New York, 2023; '18th Forum Expanded', Berlinale, Berlin, 2023; and 'Right of Way', LUX, London, 2023.