DIY 2020: Fabiola Santana – Mothers, Grandmothers, and Their (post) colonial Children

Autobiographical sessions for postcolonial diaspora. Bodies as places of legacy; voice as ancestral calling; sharing stories; rituals; being vulnerable together.

This DIY is run in partnership with Museum of London.

About the workshop

“My African female elders have brought my family together in moments of nurture, celebration, and mourning. In this spirit, I invite a group of artists to explore our matrilineages to focus on care and the effects of colonialism.

With the current pandemic threatening the lives of our elders worldwide, particularly in societies with fewer resources, I want to invite a reflection on their importance and how their lives are carried through generations. Coming together to share and find new ways to preserve their voices, and our cultures. The group will hold a space for each person to perform their material, witnessed without judgement. These will be made in the sessions by creating with movement, text and sound. Performing for each other, we will be witnessed and supported, (re)discovering new ways to tell our stories. A therapist will join us in the sessions and co-lead some explorations/discussions. With this support and guidance, participants will experience an environment rooted in artistry with the added resources to reach beyond, into deeper layers of our psyche with safety and insight.”

Dates, times and location

Three online sessions to be held on 26 January, 30 January, and 2  February 2021. A final in-person session will be held on Saturday 6 February 2021 at the Museum of London. Depending on COVID-19 restrictions, this final session may be held online. Timings for each session to be confirmed.

How to apply

“In these workshops, I want to hold a safe space to discuss openly the impact of trauma and mental health on our female elders, and their resourcefulness. How our bodies hold their legacy and what legacy we want to leave others.

We will host four workshops for up to 6 people who identify as (post) colonial children; women, womxn, and non-binary people. For those of a diaspora that historically was or currently is, under colonial rule. Three workshops will be online, the fourth workshop maybe held in physical space in the Museum of London. We welcome artists across sound, live art, theatre and dance of all ages and experiences. It will be an intimate gathering as this will be a small group.

To apply, please fill out the form on this link.

Short video or audio applications are also accepted and should be sent via WeTransfer to [email protected] by the application deadline.

We will be in touch with you as soon as we have processed them by the 5th of January 2021. If you need to know sooner please contact Fabiola and let her know. Unsuccessful applicants will also be notified. As numbers are limited for this workshop and we will not be able to have everyone participate, Fabiola is happy to connect over a phone or virtual meeting with those not able to take part.”

 

About the artist

Fabiola Santana:

“I have had sleepless nights where all I could think of was generational trauma, my Angolan mother and grandmother. And how I came to have such deep rooted co-dependency with my mother. My mother has told me stories about how she grew up stripped of her mother-tongue, homeland rituals, and customs; under Portuguese ruling. How her relationship with her mother was shaped by the limited choices available to a Black-Angolan mother; boarding Catholic school; civil war, and her displacement to Portugal. Her experiences with colonialism impacted her own identity and contributed to the mother she is to me.

Growing up in Portugal as a daughter of both cultures, the colonised and coloniser, I often felt lonely as I struggled with my identity and my experience of the dominant culture; while experiencing generational traumas. I want to gather others who identify with my enquiries to deepen my understanding of the tensions and legacies, both negative and positive, of the impact of colonialism in matrilineage. And to ask together from these, what kind of elders do we want to become?”

For more information please contact [email protected]

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