Visible Rest with Lady Kitt
Visible Rest with Lady Kitt
A project with Right Up Our Street and Andro & Eve
Right Up Our Street’s Community Advisors suggested and voted for the Priority Community groups they wanted to see the programme work with. The LGBTQIA+ community was one of the three groups selected by them.
Working with Finn Warman, artistic director of local queer arts organisation, Andro and Eve, the project has encouraged different generations to explore themes of Pride and what that means to them.
During the project there were a number of facilitated creative writing workshops with LGBTQ+ people of all ages and their contributions were collated into a beautiful zine, Reyt Proud designed by Yorkshire based designer, Jazyra Christou.
You can read more about the journey to Reyt Proud here.
For Phase 2 of this project, Lady Kitt is joining Right Up Our Street and Andro & Eve to create an installation for Doncaster Pride 2024.
Lady Kitt is a queer, Disabled artist and drag king based in Newcastle who describes their art as ‘mess making as social glue’, inviting people to be creative, connecting in meaningful ways, in safer spaces..
‘Being creative can give people permission to be messy, physically, but also conceptually and emotionally’
Kitt has led workshops with members of the LGBTQIA+ community in Doncaster, both online and in-person. The theme of these workshops being ‘Visible Rest’ asking the key question ‘What spaces, colours, sounds, textures and atmospheres do we need to create places of pause, rest and reflection within Pride?’. Kitt will then take these reflections, ideas and stories and weave them into an installation that will feature at Doncaster Pride, 2024.
As this is Kitt’s first time working in Doncaster they have expressed how special it feels to work with the LGBTQIA+ Community here.
“The people that I've met in Doncaster seem really open and interested in having conversations about their experiences”.
(Image Credits From Left to Right)
New Chains Discovered installtion, Lady Kitt, 2023, credit Art Matters Now
Lady Kitt, 2023, credit Art Matters Now
Lady Kitt, 2023, credit Art Matters Now
“The conversations have been extremely interesting, really beautiful and thoughtful and I feel very honoured that people feel comfortable to share their experiences with me.”
As this artwork is formed from community input, there is no clear visual of what the final installation might look like, however, through conversations Kitt is inspired to create something people can rest and spend time in.
"All my work is collaborative" says Kitt, acknowledging the importance of participants having an option to be credited as part of the project. But also, the potential complexities of this for LGBTQIA+ people, for whom being visibly involved in a project for Pride might unintentionally 'out' them. Everyone who has attended a workshop as part of the project was invited to share their name if they want to be credited for their ideas in the work. People were welcome to make up a creative stage or pen names if they didn't want to go by the name they are usually known by.”
You can see the final artwork at this year’s Doncaster Pride – Saturday 10th August – Town Field.
https://www.rightupourstreet.org.uk/visible-rest-uk-pride
We can’t wait to share with Doncaster Pride the final outcome of this project and celebrate this collaborative piece of artwork with the community!
(Image Credits From Left to Right)
Pleasure Imprints (enSHRINE) Lady Kitt 2023 Image Credit Art Matters Now
Queer Crip Craft Power Lady Kitt 2022
Definitions
Drag:
Performance which explores, plays with, or challenges traditional presentations, expressions of, and ideas about gender.
Drag King:
Performer which explores, plays with, or challenges traditional presentations, expressions of, and ideas about masculinity.
Outing:
Telling someone else (or others) about a person's sexual orientation or gender identity without their approval.