August 2021: Speculative Architectures w/ Angelica Maria Barraza
In this interdisciplinary workshop we will think through how our environments, established forms, cultural norms, etc. influence our experience--and production--of creative works. Using the blueprints of innovative, race-critical artists and poets such as Renee Gladman, Bhanu Kapil, Olalekan Jeyifous and others, we will discuss the possibilities and limitations of form to both reflect the world around us and re-build it. We will then apply a speculative lens to our own creative process; we will treat the creative process as a world-building process, and tease out new ways of inhabiting forms that are feminist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, [insert your vision of utopia here].
Materials: Pen, paper, and any art materials you'd like to work with.
Bio:
Angelica Maria Barraza is a poet, interventionist, queerdo, bruja, lover. She is a PhD candidate in English Literature (UCR) where she studies the intersection of race, gender, and poetic form. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University and currently teaches writing and literature at UC Riverside and the University of Redlands. She is the author of the chapbook Dreams the Water Gave Me, and her work is forthcoming or published in Jacket2, Cipactli, Bombay Gin, among others. When she is not reading, writing, or thinking about reading or writing, she can be found wandering outside with her pup at golden hour, a thermos of tea in hand.
Logistics:
- This workshop runs from August 1, 2021 - August 31, 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 [email protected].
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: "青写真" by 柏翰 / ポーハン / POHAN is licensed under CC BY 2.0]