A collective charcoal mark-making workshop for queer people
A participatory gathering for the local queer community, exploring ways of being, moving and making together through charcoal, gesture and touch.
Through a series of guided exercises — moving between individual, paired and collective mark-making — we will explore how our bodies, movements and marks can respond to one another. Working with charcoal on a large sheet of paper laid across the floor, we will gradually move towards making together as one.
For parts of the session, we will work without speaking, allowing other forms of attention and communication to emerge through movement, gesture, touch and the marks we leave behind. These quieter moments offer a space to slow down, notice ourselves and one another, and experience what it means to make alongside other bodies.
Rather than focusing on individual drawings or finished artworks, the session centres on the experience of being and making together. The accumulated marks become traces of a temporary communal body — a space for experimentation, play, connection and queer kin-making.
No previous drawing experience is needed and all materials are provided. As we will be working with charcoal and moving on the floor, please wear comfortable clothes you don't mind getting a little messy.
Led by artist Simon Olmetti.
Supported by Siobhan Davies Studios through Space for Action.
The workshop may be photographed for documentation, with a focus on the making process rather than identifiable portraits. You’ll be able to opt out of being photographed if you prefer.