Healing as Earth Creation
(Creating queer deities out of clay, through guided ritual)
workshop with Alex Hincapié & Byuka aka Fortune Tailed Beast
Poster created by Ayshe-Mira Yashin
Saturday 23 November, 2-6 PM
QUEERCIRCLE, SE10 0BN
Join us for a day workshop on creating and invoking queer deities out of clay, through a guided ritual journey involving movement, visualization & breathwork.
This workshop is inspired by the ancient Neolithic civilisation of Cucuteni-Trypillia (the areas of present-day Romania, Ukraine and Moldova) and the magnificent clay deity figurines, pottery and altars they left behind. The Cucuteni-Trypillia are also known for cyclically burning their settlements every 60-80 years, which is why the area they occupied is known as ‘The Burned House Horizon’. From this starting point, we will connect to land and history via a communal ritual as a queer world-building and kinship-making practice, asking ourselves what it means to become (and already be) future ancestors inhabiting this Earth.
Inspired by the entanglement of both queer spirituality and politics, we will explore our ancestral memories and future visions through embodiment practices. Using our senses, breath and movement we will ask ourselves what kind of energies, blessings and characteristics we want to mould into our clay-making. Is this a non-binary goddex, protector of homeless LGBTQ+ folks? A half-animal, half-transmasc-human, supporting queer people navigating the legal & health care systems? Or a femme embodiment of a queer utopia where the land is respected rather than extracted and abused? What divine wishes do we have for our future and present days?
Whilst moving between personal and collective needs and prayers, the clay will allow us to speak directly to the future by invoking the past to create intentional archaeological remains as a language for queer and trans myth-making.
The workshop is offered to the queer community & it is part of the exhibition ‘Burned House Horizon’, which will open at Mimosa House (London) from 17 January to 9 February 2025. The workshop participants are welcome to leave their creations to be included in the exhibition. More information will be provided during the workshop.
Workshop schedule:
- Arrival & circle sharing
- Somatic practice with meditation & embodiment prompts
- Writing
- Break
- Clay creation
- Collective breathing for closing
- Bring the clay to the kiln for firing (optional)
Follow us on instagram:
Our project:
@burnedhousehorizon
Facilitators:
@fortunetailedbeast
@hincapiendo
Curator:
@queer___femme
Poster artwork:
@ayshemira
Workshop accessibility:
No previous experience in clay-making or ritual/somatic work is necessary.
All workshop guidance will be shared in the form of invitations, to be adapted by each participant according to their access needs and felt sense of what is right for them at that moment in time.
The movement parts are fully accessible to people with mobility issues and can be done either standing, sitting, or lying down, as needed.
You are encouraged to take breaks whenever you need (we will provide some snacks and hot teas/coffee).
You can bring your stim toys, mobility aids, plushies, and whatever else helps you navigate the space and helps you feel taken care of.
Contact Giulia at giulia.casalini@cuntemporary.org for further workshop questions or requests. Please also message us here for waiting list or if you cannot make it anymore as spaces are very limited.
Venue accessibility:
QUEERCIRCLE strives to provide a physical environment that is accessible to all visitors. This includes:
Offering ground-level, step-free access.
Offering elevator access to the project space located on the first floor.
Providing accessible restrooms for all genders on every floor.
Providing folding chairs or other forms of seating.
Welcoming assistive animals.
Designating drop-off zones and parking spots within the Design District for visitors with disabilities on Phoenix Avenue, which is 160 meters away.
Contact Alex at ola@queercircle.org for any additional venue access needs.
About the facilitators:
Byuka aka Fortune Tailed Beast @fortunetailedbeast (they/them) is a migrant performance artist & witch, playing at the intersections of poetry, dance and film. Their work explores folk futurism and practices of queer-animist world building through community rituals, speculative fiction, embodied ecologies & ancestral healing.
Byuka is the curator & main facilitator of Lunarrr Playgroundz @lunarrrplaygroundz - a platform exploring ritual practices for the queer community, taking place bi-monthly at Ugly Duck. They are the co-creator of the Intimate Animals collective, where they explore practices of multispecies mythmaking - both in performance & workshops.
Through the collaborative project ‘Your pain is humming in my vertebrae’ they have been exploring transgenerational trauma within the context of post-Soviet countries. Specifically, this project wants to examine the transformative & healing potentialities of collective storytelling, experimental writing practices and ritual technologies.
Their work has been shown at the Royal Albert Hall, Iklektik, Camden's People Theatre, the National Gallery, Barbican, Guildhall, Ugly Duck. They have been featured on the series ‘Witch’ on BBC sounds.
Alex Hincapié @hincapiendo (they/them) is an arts and community facilitator based in London from Colombian and French descent. As part of their practice, Ola uses crafts, performance and community work to celebrate queerness and personal stories. In their often participatory work, Ola uses textile, soil, clay and wax. They have organised clay workshops in closed groups, looking at the land and the ephemeral spaces of cities (at Gasworks, Applecart Arts, Arcola Theatre, Riposte, Grow Tottenham, Pitzhanger Manor gallery and Haringey Fringe). They enjoy creating relaxed environments via conversational tools and games to discuss personal stories or broader topics.