I’m thrilled to share that I’ll be presenting Our Transcapes at the University of Worcester’s 2024 symposium, ‘Therapeutic Landscapes: Ritual, Folklore and Wellbeing’ this March.
The symposium
This March, the Arts for Health research group and the Folk Cultures group at the University of Worcester are presenting a two-day symposium exploring ‘the intersections of ritual, folklore, magic and landscape and their implications for emotional health and wellbeing’.
Organised by Desdemona McCannon and Dr John Cussans the symposium hosts panels, workshops and an exhibition to discuss topics such as ‘thin places’; storied landscapes, dreamscapes, and psychological landscapes; enclosures; ancestry; folklore; belonging , and more – all fascinating stuff I’ve been investigating in my creative and academic work for the past decade.
The organising committee has invited artists, health practitioners, academics and historians that explore these topics to apply, and present their projects. This is the capacity in which I’ll be taking part in the symposium, sharing about Our Transcapes.
It’s a very exciting programme, and I’m looking forward to meeting people working in this field.
Find the full symposium programme here.
Forging a new path
At the symposium, I’ll discuss how psychogeographic modern pilgrimage to sites of ‘queer prehistory’ in Britain could improve the wellbeing of young trans and genderqueer people today. I’ll also ask if, by sharing their creative responses to this pilgrimage, participants can further forge connections within the trans community – a ‘transecology’.
In exploring these topics these past few years, I’ve often wondered: ‘so what? What useful things are you going to do with that, S.K.?’ Beyond my writing, what tangible change or meaning can I create with the evidence, expressions, perspectives and happenings of the past that have helped me feel more at home, in myself and in the world?
This symposium feels like a big step in helping me find that answer. By meeting and hearing from other participants and speakers in the field, I wonder if more of my own future path might emerge, in whatever form it might take. So here’s looking at you, 2024. I’m excited to see where this path might lead!