What speaks for you the loudest? A pin that doesn’t bite its tongue, a string of beads paying tribute to your roots, a dyke chain bright enough to catch a crow’s eye, or unapologetic earrings…
There isn’t just one answer, is there!? Nah, of course not, think about the journey of your own ornament from childhood to now. Throughout our lives, bodies change, and so do our appearances. Our identities don’t sit still; they transform, sometimes quietly, sometimes like a storm. Like bead strings, we keep unthreading and re-threading. So, if you don’t fit into tidy binaries, if a single right way feels too small, this workshop is the place.
While crafting our own ornaments, we’ll wander through how bodies have been built and expressed since the earliest humans in Southwest Asia, nearly 100,000 years ago. Several contemporary ceramic techniques will be shared during the workshop. Hazal (she/her) will be there with you, not to steer but to explore alongside you. She’ll support your ideas and help find solutions when needed.
Maybe you’ll leave with a tiny piece, maybe with a quiet rebellion. Whatever comes out is yours and unique.
Trigger Warning: This workshop includes images of human remains (skeletons, skulls, infant remains, etc.), body modifications, and piercings, presented within archaeological and anthropological contexts. That may not be comforting to some viewers.