Alice Deptiva (b. 1980, Essex; raised in Essex and Liverpool) is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice seeks to externalise and give voice to the effects of trauma that may otherwise remain hidden.

With a foundational interest in power imbalances and particularly abuses of power, Deptiva’s work spans performance, sound, moving image, and installation to convey their lived experiences of violence and abuse. At various times their work is sombre and reflective, resolutely expressing the internalised rage and grief which often remains stifled and buried deep inside; at other times it becomes playful, taking various archetypes of the femme fatale and twisting them into grotesque, psychedelic caricatures who are poised to fight back and flip the dynamic between the target and their abuser.

Although these approaches each differ in tone, they are unified in a single aim: to validate, acknowledge, and empower survivors of abuse, removing the othering effects that isolation can bring.