April 2021: Shopping the Body w/ H.P. Armstrong
In studying the monster, there is the study of the fringes of society. Looking at the singular self, looking at a sole body, where are the fringes of the self? How is the body constructed just the same as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and what benefits do we have to swap our parts to see what fits best? How can we be the monster we want to be? With an emphasis on trans poetics and monster theory, this workshop will challenge the artist to reward themselves with the idealized, be it beautiful or grotesque. There is power in becoming surreal, both in the hideous and the exquisite.
All genders are encouraged to participate in self-creation, in all genres in a non-judgmental space meant for the expansion of understanding of the body inside and out through writing and reading. We will shop through music, literature, and the graphic novel for the nuggets and tidbits we wish to apply to ourselves, even just for the time of workshop.
(Inspiration from: Faceshopping by SOPHIE)
Materials needed: Paper, pencil, or art materials of your choosing.
Bio:
H.P. Armstrong is a trans and queer writer who hails from the Midwest, but lives in Colorado with his partner. He is a graduate of Naropa's Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics with a BA in Creative Writing and Literature, as well as a graduate of Front Range Community College. His work has appeared in KYSO Flash's A Trembling of Finches, with Punch Drunk Press, Plains Paradox, and internationally with Nota Bene. His work primarily involves the beautifully grotesque and disenfranchisement of the body, along with his experiences as a destitute poor, queer, homeless young adult and as an ex-Mormon. He is working on his first novel handling themes of the consequences of religious abuse and the lack of knowledge of one's own body.
Logistics:
- This workshop runs from April 1, 2021 - April 30, 2021.
- Workshops consist of one video per week for each week in the month. Videos are 45-60 minutes long, and are shared on a private YouTube account.
- Class discussions are held via Slack.
- All readings, creative prompts, and shared artwork will be exchanged via a private Google Drive folder.
- All workshops are designed for you. Dedicate as much or as little time to the workshop per week as you'd like.
- This workshop is taught in English, but collective.aporia offers subtitles for the workshop videos in over 60 languages. If you have questions about language accommodations, please feel free to email us at collective.aporia@gmail.com.
Donations:
Collective.aporia believes in paying working artists fairly for their time and work. As a diverse international collective, we also believe strongly in valuing fair exchange—whether that be monetary, energetic, or otherwise.
Because of these beliefs, our workshop donations all begin at a $40 base rate with the option to give additional donation amounts, if you’re able. Seventy percent of the donations go to facilitator, and the remainder goes back into collective.aporia for operational expenses.
Participants also have the option to donate money towards the community scholarship, which provides opportunities to folks from these communities to attend workshops at no cost.
Please check out this page to learn more and/or apply for the scholarship.
We understand that not everyone has the financial means to donate $40. In the spirit of collaboration and exchange, we have developed a work exchange initiative that allows folks to choose what kind of work they would like to trade for free entry into the workshop. Examples of this work include writing blog posts, creating and sharing social media content, editing video subtitles, etc.
Thank you for your generosity!
[Image credit: Marloes Hilckmann]
