Against the Grain is a 2-part workshop series exploring the practice of erasure poetry and speculative means of engaging with marginal histories.

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How do we engage with histories that have been erased, silenced, or fragmented? How can acts of reading, redaction, and re-writing become tools for resistance? Against the Grain invites participants to explore erasure poetry as a method of intervention—both as a creative practice and as a means of critically engaging with archives.

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Originating from the postmodern tradition of found poetry, erasure poetry transforms existing texts by “erasing” or removing words, to make visible hidden narratives or plural histories within a singular text. This process of working against the grain—reading between the lines of history—serve as a radical means of re-claiming lost voices and imagining counter-histories.

 

Taking place across two sessions at MayDay Rooms on 17th April and 17th May. 

 

Erasure workshop #1

17th Apr 18:30 - 21:00

 

This first session contextualises erasure poetry within the politics of historical redaction, silence, and re-visioning, with a particular focus on migrant histories. Participants will engage with a selection of archival materials from MayDay Rooms’ collections and read key works of erasure poetry before creating their own erasure pieces in response.

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Erasure workshop #2 + talk

17th May 13:00 - 15:30 (workshop) 16:00 - 17:00 (talk)

 

In this follow-up session, participants are invited to bring along their own texts, materials and archives to work on. We will experiment with expanded approaches to erasure—working with paint, collage, or physical interventions.

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Followed by a talk and discussion on the intersections of erasure poetry, speculative writing, and counter-archival practices. Speakers to be announced soon.

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Curated with Makella Ama 

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Makella Ama (b. Accra, Ghana) is an anti-disciplinary maker with a practice that often takes shape through curation, visual anthropology and writing through a sensorial lens. Their practice is rooted in their background of community/youth work with children in care and young refugees. A question Makella is often grappling with is this:  how can we demystify the link between storytelling, history and the ability to bring archives to life/light/memory?

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FREE entry but spaces are very limited, please register your interest by filling in a short form

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Deadline: 10th Apr 2025 23:59

You will be notified about selection by Sunday 13th April 2025

This workshop is open to participants who identify as being from the Global Majority. ("Global majority" is a collective term for people of Asian, African, Indigenous, Latin American, or mixed-heritage backgrounds).

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Please note that you should be available for both sessions to apply.

 

No prior writing experience is required.​

You are also welcome to submit a video or audio of under 2min to sinescreenuk@gmail.com

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