This post is a bit late coming, but blimey: what an absolute joy the University of Worcester’s Therapeutic Landscapes symposium (9 & 10 March 2024) was.
120 delegates – artists, myth makers, storytellers, facilitators, researchers, academics, illustrators, sculptors, herbalists, foragers, writers, and project makers – gathered to explore how our landscapes are potential gateways for healing – healing ourselves, each other and the planet.
Sadly, I didn’t get to watch every talk or attend every workshop – multiple stages and rooms were hosting speakers simultaneously – but those I did get to engage with challenged my assumptions, taught me something new, and changed my perspectives. Feedback from folks who attended my talk about Our Transcapes was likewise positive, I was thrilled to find.
The need for a queer ancestry
While preparing to give my talk, it became very clear that there’s a real need for finding a queer lineage. Our national history and other stories omit minority groups. The responses from queer and neurodivergent audience members really reinforced, for me, the healing power of this story I’m telling in this project: that people who live outside of the binary categories we define ourselves by – and restrict ourselves within, at times – have been around for a very long time.
That we belong here.
It makes me even more excited to get Our Transcapes live and out there in the world – especially as anti-trans hate crimes rise in the UK and the quality of mental health in young trans adults falls[1]. Thankfully, we’ve heard that Dr Linge’s Queer Natures project has gotten through to the second stage of our funding application, so fingers crossed the next time we write something about Our Transcapes, it’s to launch it!
A massive thanks to the Creative Health Research Group at Worcester University for having me.
