Dominique White, a sculptor and installation artist inspired by the myths of the sea, has won the Max Mara art prize for women 2022-24.

White, who lives and works between Essex and Marseille, is a sculptor and installation artist whose ocean-themed works are centred around the idea of creating new worlds for “blackness”. Old sails, masts, whaling spears and maps all feature in her ghostly creations, which incorporate theories of black subjectivity, Afro-pessimism and hydrarchy – a term coined by 17th-century poet Richard Braithwait to refer to the ability for individuals to gain power over land by ruling through the instrument of water.