Creative processes in activism

“Queer and feminist visual activism has various origins across the globe and has emerged in a fluid cultural field of visual arts, popular culture, and protest aesthetics… We conceive of three primary forms of queer and feminist visual practice – protest, process and product – each with its own histories and epistemologies. Each of these forms offers the capacity for resistance and collaboration…Taking the notion of social practice as an integral part of the ‘process’ of visual activism, we identify three emerging themes across the articles in this special issue: refusal, care, and thriving.” – Abstract, Olu Jenzen and Tessa Lewin, Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change: Global Queer and Feminist Activism

Join us at Brighton CCA for this half-day event featuring talks, making and a communal lunch in response to recent publication of the special edition of Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change: Global Queer and Feminist Activism, co-hosted by Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender, University of Brighton.

Set within the current exhibition at Brighton CCA, A Quiet Fire by Billie Zangewa, this event will weave together text, imagery and dialogue prompted by visual activism and three emergent themes of the journal; refusal, care and thriving.

Olu Jenzen and Tessa Lewin will introduce ideas and research from the journal throughout the event, offering an insight to the global practices of visual activism.

Artist Ruth Beale will facilitate the making of double page printed spreads, to contribute to a collective zine, as a means of gathering, exploring the politics of publishing and print, and making new works in response to the journal. This activity will happen throughout the session and materials will be provided.

Artist and academic Vanessa Marr will give an interactive talk, Stitching to Resist: Embroidering dusters as Creative Rebellion, on her ongoing project that started in 2014, Women & Domesticity – What’s your Perspective, a collaborative arts project that asks members of the public to embroider their domestic experiences upon a duster.

Lunch will be served during the event. This is free to attend, booking required.

About:

Olu Jenzen is Reader in Media Studies and the Director of the Research Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender. Her research focuses on Digital Culture and Activism, and LGBTQ+ Media Cultures, in particular global visual activism and LGBTQ+ social media youth cultures. She is the co-editor of The Aesthetics of Protest: Global Visual Culture and Communication (AUP, 2020) and a special issue of the Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change, on ‘Global Queer and Feminist Visual Activism’ (2022).

Tessa Lewin is a Research Fellow in the Participation, Inclusion and Social Change cluster at the Institute of Development Studies, where she co-convenes the MA in Gender and Development, is the co-director of Rejuvenate – a programme on participatory Child Rights and co-leads the Policy and Practice strand of the Countering Backlash Programme. Her work involves creative, visual and participatory research, teaching and research communication. Her recent research has focused on gender politics, sexuality, visual activism and child rights. Her doctoral research investigated the nature of queer visual activism in South Africa. She is well known for her work as a creative facilitator, often with children and young people, and has worked on projects involving digital storytelling, photovoice, radio drama, animation, and participatory video.

Ruth Beale is an artist based in London whose socially-engaged and collaborative practice explores how culture, governance and social discourse create society, and how society creates culture. They use dialogue, drawing, publishing, performance, film and installations – and themes of sci-fi, pedagogy, education and public space – to examine institutions and grassroots activity, from prisons to common land, to schools and libraries. Recent exhibitions and projects include LIKE GODS, Swiss Cottage Library, London, 2023, Gallery, Editorial Tables: Reciprocal Hospitalities, The Showroom, London, 2022-23, Library as Memorial, as part of Brent Borough of Culture, 2021-22, The Farmhouse Library at Wysing Arts Centre, 2014-ongoing, and The Hundred Club with TACO! in Thamesmead, London, 2021-ongoing. Ruth also works collaboratively with Simon Elvins on All the Libraries in London, and with Amy Feneck as The Alternative School of Economics and Rabbits Road Institute Library.
www.ruthbeale.net

Vanessa is an artist, academic and designer based in East Sussex, England. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and is currently Principal Lecturer and Course Leader at the University of Brighton. Her work is underpinned by visual design-theory and process yet embraces an intuitive and physical approach that facilitates self-authorship, which she explores predominantly through hand-stitch and creative writing. She is drawn to cloth as a medium that holds the legacy of so-called women’s work and its potential for subversion and quiet activism. Vanessa is best known for her hand embroidered dusting cloths, which form part of an ongoing collaborative arts project ‘Women & Domesticity – What’s your Perspective?’ that invites embroidered statements on this theme. Her work has been exhibited and presented widely in academic, community and arts contexts in the UK. Vanessa regularly participates in collaborative, creative and research projects, and never stops learning, making, and writing.

Access:

Brighton CCA has step-free access throughout its public spaces. The venue is wheelchair accessible.
There are two accessible parking bays available by the side entrance to the quad. Please get in touch with Brighton CCA to find out more about their exact location and to organise entering the building. There is an accessible toilet and a gender-neutral toilet. Comfortable seating can be organised. There are quiet spaces for which access can be arranged.

If you have any questions or need assistance with your visit please contact Polly Wright on 01273644716 or email brightoncca@brighton.ac.uk and they will do everything they can to make sure you have a positive experience here.