Where do we go from here?

The way forward requires a revolutionary re-animation of our meme-dulled imaginations. In this workshop the queer practice of making sense with the senses and the necessity of fantasy in the face of ecological emergency will be explored as pathways towards image making.

We will look at works by artists who create alter-egos and avatars to question history and imagine futures such as Kent Monkman’s Miss Chief Eagle Testickle and Serwah Attafuah’s afro-futurisms. Julie Bell’s strong female figures in the context of chimera, hybrid, and more-than-human forms. We will consider the artistic practice in the context of a magical praxis.

We will forget everything we thought we knew about poetry and explore our own anti-poetics with literary devices that transgress and disrupt. Paradox! Euphemism! In learning how to tell new stories we will begin to expect the unexpected, we will surprise ourselves with our adaptability and associative image-making and stop taking ourselves too seriously.

Where do we go from here? We’ll make it up!

GENRE: Interdisciplinary poetry workshop, no prior writing experience necessary.

WHAT TO BRING: Paper / Notebook / Writing Implements (No phones, iPads, or laptops.)

TOPICS: Climate Change, Imagination, Poetry, Art, The Artistic Practice, Witchcraft

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Gnaomi Siemens is an interdisciplinary literary artist based in New York City. Her work can be found in The Believer, Slice Magazine, Words Without Borders, Portland Review, and Seneca Review, among others in the US and abroad. Her work has been recognized by The Arctic Circle, The British Library, The Poetry Society of New York, Vermont Studio Center, Millay Arts, and ALTA. Her first full-length collection, The Errant, was a finalist for The X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize. She is represented by The Shipman Agency.

Please note: This is a one-time workshop being offered on several Tuesdays. As it is a generative writing workshop, you may take the class as many times as you like.