An evening of drawing, discussion and discovery.
Abstract
Where do we locate our bodies and creativity in a world where our intersections restrict our access and expression?
Can we challenge this and expand meaning through communal embodied experiences?
Can our marginalised identities inspire greater avenues for creativity to flourish?
Join us on the 5th of April for an evening exploring Liberatory Creativity, Intersectional Identity and Healing.
We will reimagine intersectional creativity with a Life Art Therapy session led by Yaa Yeboah-Newton of Our Naked Truths and a panel discussion featuring Artist-Filmmaker and Writer, Jameisha Prescod; Art wellbeing researcher, Birungi Kawooya; and Decolonising RE Researcher, Writer and Poet, Alexandra Brown.
The session and discussion are about process, reflection, expression and communal discovery. You do not need to be ‘good at art’ to attend.
This session is for all levels i.e. from Stickman Superstars to Painting Prodigies! Come with an open mind and ready to try something new, in a truly transformative and welcoming space.
During the first half, Jameisha, Birungi and Alexandra will serve as your muses. Yaa will guide you through a series of prompts and drawing styles, using the instruments and colours of your choice. We will follow the evening’s creative expression with a relaxed, communal discussion, exploring the evening’s themes with our muses.
Materials and refreshments will be provided.
The event will be facilitated by Kym Oliver, PhD Researcher at City and Co-founder of The Triple Cripples and Our Living Archives.
The session is part of a wider series produced by Kymfor Our Living Archives, an ongoing project which seeks to explore Black Culture, Disability and Identity, centring the experiences and expertise of Women and Gender Expansive members of the community.
Please note: Though open to everyone, these sessions are designed to be a safe space for Black, Disabled, LGBTQIA+, Neurodiverse, POC folks and their allies. We ask that you respect this when sharing the space.
Session structure
5.45pm – Welcome and introduction
5.55pm – Grounding exercise
6.05pm – Drawing session
6.50pm – Break and refreshments
7.00pm – Panel discussion with muses
8.00pm - Close
About the speakers
Yaa Yeboah-Newton
Yaa Yeboah-Newton (Yaa Sankofa - she/her) is the Founder of Our Naked Truths, a space that offers empowerment, healing and reclamation through creative wellness and communion.
Her practice is a creative, trauma-informed, embodied, intersectional, facilitative approach and her unique, liberatory expertise has taken her across the UK, as well as to Europe, East Africa, West Africa and the US.
Yaa has been commissioned by numerous organisations and institutions including, the Tate, Southbank, UAF-Africa, Black Girl Fest, Ogilvy, Soho-House, gal-dem, V&A, We Out Here, SOAS, University of Cambridge, and Edinburgh University.
Yaa is also the Founder of The Black Women's Therapy Fund, providing low-cost and free culturally appropriate therapy.
Holding a strong history in complex safeguarding, mental health, criminal exploitation, creative wellness, space holding and group facilitation, whilst studying as a Senior Trainee Integrative Psychotherapist.
Yaa invites people to have an honest, reflective, healing and celebratory exploration of self, with acceptance, compassion, forgiveness, freedom, and love.
A mission that is very dear to her heart and a realised purpose.
Alexandra Brown
Alexandra Brown is a Philosophy, Ethics and Religious Studies secondary school teacher, researcher, public speaker, writer and poet whose work focuses on Christian theologies of liberation, Islam within the Black American experience and decolonising issues of social justice pertaining to gender, race, class, disability and sexual identity within the English religious education curriculum.
Alexandra describes her ponderings, reflections, words, and ontology as ‘residing in liminal spaces’.
Birungi Kawooya
Birungi Kawooya researches ways of being well in community, inspired by nature, Black feminisms and the Afro somatic movement through her art practice.
She reinterprets ancestral wisdom and seeks to resolve trauma by using natural fibres and batiks indigenous to Uganda.
In her art wellbeing workshops and art installations she holds space for creative rest, liberation, grief and renewal.
She was recently an artist researcher in residence with Healing Justice London and Pembroke House and recipient of the UN PRME Innovative Pedagogy grant with Royal Holloway University.
Jameisha Prescod
Jameisha Prescod is an artist-filmmaker, writer and disability activist from South London.
Specialising in documentary, experimental film, video journalism and immersive visual art, they are driven by authentic storytelling and use art to explore themes surrounding disability, illness, Black history and identity.
Jameisha is also the founder and creative director of You Look Okay To Me, the online space for chronic illness.
They explore the social and cultural aspects of living with a chronic condition through visual mediums.
Attendance at City events is subject to our terms and conditions.