Monstrosity In the Making
.
Current Session:
August 6, 2023 - December 17, 2023*
We invite diarists, doodlers, and makers in all mediums, of all skill levels, who are interested in giving, receiving, and sustaining mutual aid through times of change and uncertainty.
Monstrosity in the Making is a re-generative, creative, virtual studio designed to cultivate communal practices of artful expression and support during on-going, compound cultural crises. Member-artists commit to unsettling our productive impulses and tracing artistic longings to their roots as embodied needs.
The language of monstrosity is derived from words meaning to remind, advise, admonish, warn, instruct, teach. Monsters are signs, divine omens, scorned truth-tellers upending mythologies of normalcy and flawlessness. For the outcast and marginalized, sincere artful expression risks provoking the wrath of the mob. In Monstrosity in the Making, member-artists risk perceived abnormality, incoherence, and madness together, embracing our responsibility to remind ourselves of the tragic wonder of mortality and the abundant possibility of liberation.
To be considered for this group, please respond to the Application Questions at the bottom of the page and submit your answers to feelingndealing@gmail.com
CONCEPTS WE MAY EXPLORE:
Play, foolishness, monstrosity, and recreation
Collaboration, collectivity, and madness
Embodiment, sensation, and ecstasy
Disability, mutuality, and dis-ease
Failure, loss, and grief
Radical etymological inquiry
Organized abandonment, isolation, alienation, neglect, and abuse
Dream spaces, rest, healing, and transformation
VOICES WE MAY CALL UPON:
The works of: bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Tricia Hersey, Vine DeLoria Jr., Dr. Bayo Akomolafe, Miriame Kaba, James Baldwin, Alicia Garza, Emily and Amelia Nagowski, Angela Davis, Layla F. Saad, Natalie Diaz, Solmaz Sharif, Octavia Butler, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Sonja Renee Taylor, and others.
Notes: *These are texts and teachers known to the facilitators. Other texts, teachers, resources, and perspectives are welcomed from participants.
*You do not need to buy any books or supplies to participate in the group. We will share free resources and readings, when available, and lift up passages from these teachers in group.
ABOUT THE FACILITATORS::
My name is robin herold (she/they). I’m a neuroqueer writer, bard, philologist, fool, and spiritual nurturer living and practicing on the unceded land of the Akimel O'odham and Hohokam people. I make art dispelling white denial, coerced gender performance, and scaling modes of oppression—from the nuclear family, to the school, the corporation, and the state. My writing is a tool for unlearning internalized patriarchy, ableism, racism, capitalism, & hierarchy; it's a leap toward dis-investment from institutions upheld by these dominating systems of relation, & a leap toward a radical ethics guided by love.
My writing and teaching have been recognized and supported by: The Stadler Center for Poetry and Literary Arts, Arizona State University’s Master of Fine Arts Program, The Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, National University of Singapore’s University Scholars Programme, Susquehanna University’s Writers Institute, and others.
+
My name is Elena (she/her). I’ve been employed as a psychotherapist since 2011. I am also an artist who’s vocation is feeling. I believe that grief, dreaming & creativity are powerful components of sustainability during times of uncertainty and compound crises.
I host by-donation, online, twice monthly peer support groups for those interested in cultivating on-going, sustainable support in virtual group settings.
I’m a life-long student of psychology, history, war, displacement, genocide, climate, science, oppression, power, philosophy, culture & the natural world. Who we (we, living planetary beings) are and where we come from are questions of great interest to me.
I live & work on the unceded land of the Tonkawa, Jumanos, Comanche & Lipan Apache peoples—also known as central Texas. I’m a white-passing, cisgender, LatinX, queer woman of color. My skin is light brown. I have short, brown and gray, curly hair. My pronouns are she/her.
My relatives lived in Mexico (the Zacatecas & Aguas Calientes regions), Poland & other Western European countries before settling in North America in the early-20th & late-19th centuries respectively. I was born in Waco, Texas in 1983.
I love my family, my three elderly dogs, reading, art, tv, music & sunsets.
To learn more about me or to stay in touch, feel free to visit my Substack.
Application Questions:
What draws you to this group? What would you like to offer to the group? What would you like to receive?
What days and times are you available to virtually meet (for 75-minute sessions, bi-monthly)? *Please include your time zone in your response. Note: groups are facilitated from Central Time Zone.
How do you feel when someone asks you what you do?
Taking your response to Question 3 into account, answer the question “What do you do?” in a way that comforts and enlivens you (rather than defining or positioning yourself legibly within dominant structures).
Describe your artful/making practice and its subjects.
What challenges are you facing during this time? What and who are your current supports? What practices do you have in place to ground and support you? (i.e. meditation, embodiment/mindful movement, therapy, creative practices)
What would you like to share about your identity?
Please estimate your donation amount*
Is there anything else that is important for us to know about you or your participation in the group?
*This group is by-donation. Those who are experiencing financial abundance are welcome to contribute more on behalf of those experiencing financial hardship.