I love you like the trees: collaging queer devotionals

"We became more, we became us."
- How To Raise A Black Boy, Justice Jamal Jones

In Justice Jamal Jones’ short film, How To Raise A Black Boy, a love letter to the child heart unfolds. We watch as a clutch of beautifully wild boys grow older, cycling together through the breakings and makings of ‘home’ and ‘family’, witnessing flight and fugitivity as acts of self-authorship, of devotion.

In this workshop, we will use these themes as our starting point. Through reading, talking together, writing and collage, we will create vivid collage poems that honour the role of devotion in our own lives, to ourselves and to others; to our shared past, present and future.

No prior experience or preparation required. There will be no pressure to share personal information or work that you create if you don’t want to. All materials will be provided but you may like to bring along some of your own collage materials, this could include photographs of yourself, loved ones or places that are important to you.

This workshop is for anyone who is Black or a person of colour, identifies as LGBTQ+ and is interested to explore these ideas with others.

Hot drinks and biscuits will be provided.

The Queer Africa Shorts programme, that the workshop draws inspiration from, will be screened at the CCA cinema one hour after the workshop ends, 14:00-15:25 (sliding scale tickets). Find more information about the Queer Africa Programme here.

About Martha Adonai Williams

Martha Adonai Williams is a writer, facilitator, organiser, and friend. Her practice departs to and returns from black feminist world making, always, with regular layovers in front of trash tv or at the allotment. Her work considers the wilderness and margins as sites of resistance, refusal and homecoming. She works with writing and storytelling as therapeutic tools and as methods for community building.