16th March – 14th July 2024

ONLINE and at locations across the UK

After London / Wild Queer Land is an open access learning and collaboration programme in queer nature and queer ecology.

coordinated by Daniel Baker-Wells with Jasmine Isa Qureshi, Connor Butler, Roy Vickery (Plant Lore), LiLi K. Bright, Pierce Eldridge (Worms, Sissy Anarchy), Sheree Mack (Earth Sea Love, Black Nature in Residence), Tom Moulsdale, Scarlett Fay (the Strawberry Rat, Molly No-Mates), Hackney Herbal, and others tbc.  

all activities are queer affirming and queer-led, the programme is designed to be as open and accessible as possible.  If you have any questions or suggestions about access, we’d love to hear from you!: thebluehouseblue@gmail.com

PAY WHAT YOU CAN: suggested donation per ONLINE workshop £4-6

 

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ONLINE DATES NOW BOOKING 

An introduction to queering ecology: through ancestral feeling, queer theory and storytelling

SATURDAY 30TH MARCH 2024 @ 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM – JASMINE ISA QURESHI: 

Jasmine Isa Qureshi (they/she), is a journalist (BBC Wildlife, Gaytimes, Metro, etc.), writer and marine / queer – biologist and ecologist. As a trans, Pakistani, non-binary, and muslim woman, she has often found that her need to intertwine her identity in her work is required for authenticity and creativity to thrive. As such, she is also a Poet, an Ambassador for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, an advisor on the committee of RSPB England, and a presenter, speaker, workshop facilitator and wildlife TV Researcher.  She is also currently working on her first book!

WORKSHOP: Ecology and biology are often the basis for our understanding of the world, and allow us to traverse the natural world in many incredible and beautiful ways…but these ways are also full of toxic assumptions and preconceptions, that can lead us to harshly judge and impose upon the wildlife we so love, and even the people around us, and also seep into the ways we accept humanity and nature, and build society. Queering ecology is all about breaking down those foundational assumptions, and restructuring and re-understanding biology and ecology, using a mix of indigenous teachings, queer theory and storytelling, to allow us to open our minds and hearts to what nature really is all about. 

In this workshop, learn to ask questions in the right places, grow your understanding of alternative systems of learning about nature, and open your eyes to an entirely new way of seeing the world, through the tools and knowledge you will find you already have.

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Weird Bugs & Botany Identification Workshop

SUNDAY 21ST APRIL 2024 @ 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM – CONNOR BUTLER

Connor Butler (he / him) is an ecologist and entomologist with a decade of experience connecting people with urban nature. He is the Head of Learning at Chelsea Physic Garden and over the past year has also been studying the dung beetles in London’s parks. Connor has delivered 20+ sold out Queer Ecology walks in London and aims to show that nature is far weirder than we could imagine. 

WORKSHOP: Many species of slugs, ferns, lichen and woodlice have interesting lifecycles that don’t fit ideas of what is ‘natural’.  With ecologist Connor Butler, learn how to find and identify commonly overlooked plants and animals found right outside your doorstep.

 

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Social anarchism & queer utopic ecologies 

THURSDAY 25TH APRIL 2024 @ 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM – P. ELDRIDGE 

P. Eldridge (she / her) is a writer, literary editor, founder of the radical trans anarchist zine SISSY ANARCHY, managing editor of Worms, and co-founder of The Compost Library, working between London and so-called Australia. 

SISSY ANARCHY is a zine and online newsletter that explores trans queer anarchism. We understand anarchism as an ideology, that is, a set of ideas, motivations, ethics, values, a structure or system of concepts that have a direct connection with action which influences political practices; against anti-trans, anti-queer, capitalist, colonial, racist, ableist, and discrimination struggles across the world

WORKSHOP: Inspired by the trans people, faggots, and utopic ecologies that feature within The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, and drawing from writers such as Lauren Berlant, Sarah Sculman, and more, P. Eldridge will facilitate a writing workshop that considers speaking, and evoking in our writing, a tranarchist language. 

Using writing exercises and tools, we will build an intimate connection to queering the way we speak, mutter, grasp, correspond, tell stories, create forms of resistance, and act up. Understanding language as a living thing, we burrow into ourselves, probing texts, to consider the interrelation of our words with direct action that seeks final outcomes; in relationship with comrades, other species, ecosystems, and the textures of being a ‘sissy’ in anarchism.

 

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Queer Plants: Stories and Tales from the Plant Lore Archives

TUESDAY 30TH APRIL 2024 @ 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM – ROY VICKERY

Roy Vickery is a botanist with over 50 years of experience at the Natural History Museum and South London Botanical Institute.  He is the founder of Plant-Lore, the UK’s only archive of folklore, stories, herbal remedies and traditional uses of plants, and since 1975 he has produced some 140 publications on plant-lore.

WORKSHOP: Roy will share stories and anecdotes from the Plant-Lore archive, including the roles of plants in healing, witchcraft and folktales: from protective charms to fairy rings. 

We’ll look at LGBTQIA+ plant lore- the historical uses and symbolism of plants and flowers in queer culture, and explore how we might add to the archive through collecting queer plant stories from across cultures and contexts.

 

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A Palimpsest Nature Immersion
 

SATURDAY 18TH MAY 2024 @ 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM – SHEREE MACK

Dr. Sheree Mack is a Creatrix with a practice which manifests through poetry, storytelling, image and the unfolding histories of black people. Sheree engages audiences around black women’s voices and bodies, black feminism, nature and memory, grief and healing. She advocates for black women’s voices, facilitating national and international creative workshops and retreats in the landscape, encouraging and supporting women on their journey of remembrance
back to their bodies and authentic selves.  Sheree’s projects include: Black Nature in Residence; Earth Sea Love; and Living Wild Studios.

Throughout Sheree’s freelance career of 20 years, she’s been commissioned by the National Trust, Forestry England and CPRE.  She has enjoyed residencies with Northumberland National Park, The Literary and Philosophical Society, Tyne and Wear Museums, Jefferson Land Trust, Washington State and Westfjords Artist Residency, Iceland.  She’s worked with the Arvon Foundation, The Sage Gateshead and The Baltic Contemporary Gallery of Art to name but a few.

 

WORKSHOP: Let’s get into our bodies, tap into our senses to be present to all the layers we can discover within the landscape, our creativity and hearts and souls.  Using a three stepped structure of naming, describing and interacting, we’ll move out from the screen to immerse ourselves in nature and then come back together to share our discoveries.  3 hour workshop, with time spent outdoors or from a window looking outside.
 

 

 

🐻🦡🦅🦈🦋🦟🌷🌿🌾🌖🍄🍃🌰🌿🌳

queer-affirming & queer-led: LGBTQIA+ and allies welcome

PAY WHAT YOU CAN: suggested donation per ONLINE workshop £4-6

After London (supported by Heritage Lottery Fund) is an exploration of queer ecologies, natural heritage of wildernesses in Greater London.  Wild Queer Land is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.  With thanks to the invaluable support of Barnsley Civic, The Octagon Theatre & Westlands Entertainment Venue, Yeovil Diversity Project, Creative Recovery, Trans Barnsley, RSPB Old Moor, and many others. 

Ticket link