Transcendence gallery show at Pendle Hill
Transcendence explores the connection between gender, spirituality, and mythology, specifically as involving transgender and genderqueer identities. Many cultures around the world include(d) genders beyond a binary system, and many of these figures had strong ties to the spiritual tradition of their respective cultures, including roles such as healers, seers, oracles, and shamans. Countless traditions, legends, and identities have been irretrievably lost, ravaged by colonialism. This project includes restoryation — telling new stories that center gender-diverse people. In the spirit of myths — not false stories, but ever-relevant ones — these images create not just a body, but a figure of transcendence.
The exhibition will be up at Pendle Hill from mid-April to mid-June. Currently the space is only open to people who sojourn or come to events here, but that may change later in the spring, and I will share pictures here and on Instagram.
Beyond Pink and Blue: Inner Depths of Gender
We live in a world of many vibrant colors, especially now as spring is turning to summer, but when it comes to gender, society trains us to describe the world only in terms of pink and blue. Even as knowledge and ideas of gender have expanded in recent years, the gender binary is still too often seen as default. Beyond Pink and Blue uses poetry and photography to explore gender through metaphors of color and nature. This event will use poems as a jumping off point for further discussions of gender beyond binaries in our world today.
Artist Residency talk 3 of 3: Tuesday, June 14th, 7:30-9pm, via zoom from Pendle Hill. More information and registration here.
“Queer Restoryation” workshop at Mythaca in Ithaca NY
Stories, myths, and legends aren’t just tales created long ago, but ones newly created as well. Looking at myths and stories today offers ways to find deeper insight into our own lives and ways of interacting with the world around us. In a world that tries to erase the presences of LGBTQIA+ folks, it is even more vital that we continue to tell our stories, whether they are the everyday realities of our lives, or mythic tales of realities deeper than ordinary truths. Binary ways of seeing the world will not simply disappear — they must be replaced by ways of seeing and honoring fluidity and change as natural and necessary. This workshop is an act of restoryation, engaging with new stories, myths, and legends, ones that walk the many paths beyond supposed binaries: male and female, night and day, land and sea, earth and sky, life and death, self and other, self and earth.
Mythaca Festival June 22-26, local/in-person in Ithaca NY. More information and registration here.
“Restoryation and the Power of Stories” 5-day workshop online with Friends General Conference
How do stories and myths relate to our lives today? What can we learn from ancient and modern stories and how can these connect us more deeply to each other and Divine? Together we’ll explore meaning, metaphor, and spirituality through the power of stories, including creating some of our own.
July 4-8, 5-day workshop, 2-4pm ET daily – more information and registration at this link with Friends General Conference.
Gonna Make This Garden Grow…
… a spiritual deepening conference for Young Adults (18-35). Inch by inch, row by row. A garden is a beautiful thing. At this conference we’ll get our hands dirty planting and weeding as well as think about the ways our community is like a garden. How do we want this garden to grow?
Growing a Sense of Place in our Identities (my workshop)
We live in a society that tries to weed out anyone who doesn’t fit in neat rows, but when we look to nature, we see a world far beyond binaries. How can we find empowerment in the natural world and grow this within ourselves and our communities so that we and others have more chance to bloom into our full selves and bring our rich gifts into the world?
July 8-10 in-person conference – more information and registration at this link with Powell House Quaker Retreat Center.
Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference
Join thousands of transgender, non-binary, gender-variant people and their allies when they come together in the name of trans wellness in all senses of the word at the largest free trans conference in the world.
Queer Re-story-ation (my workshop)
The powerful act of queer restoryation repopulates the realms of story and folklore with queer-centric ones. Gender diversity is far from a new phenomenon, and hundreds of cultures around the world include(d) genders beyond a binary system, yet so many of these identities and stories have been erased through oppression. The tapestry of such stories and traditions has holes and tears, gaps and gashes that will not heal themselves. This harm will not simply end, binary ways of seeing the world will not simply disappear — they must be replaced by ways of seeing and honoring fluidity and change as natural and necessary. Cai Quirk’s photo and story series ‘Transcendence’ creates new stories, myths, and legends, ones that center figures beyond binary gender. This interactive workshop will explore connections between gender, nature, mythology, spirituality, empowerment, and storytelling.
This virtual conference is from July 21-23, my workshop is at 3:30-4:30pm ET on Saturday 7/23. More information and registration can be found at this link
Being Changed, Living Faithfully
The New York Yearly Meeting (Quaker) Summer Sessions is a place where Quakers (and interested seekers) gather from across our region (New York, Connecticut, New Jersey), and beyond. Our theme for Summer Sessions 2022 urges us into openness, exploration, reflection, inviting us to meet one another in love and anticipation and with curiosity about how we each will be called to change, to live faithfully.
Living Faithfully and Gender Diversity (my workshop)
My faithfulness and gender are both deeply rooted in the Divine. Living into my faithfulness has been very experiential, particularly in the last ten years of being an openly transgender person. Many aspects of my discernment led towards following uncommon paths. When these paths were less well supported in society, I had little choice but to turn to Spirit, and thus my faithfulness grew. In this open discussion I will share from 10 years of experience about how gender/less common paths and faithfulness intertwine, and we will have a chance to explore together further aspects of gender diversity.
Summer Sessions will be in person and online 7/24-30. Find more information and register at this link. My workshop will be Monday 12-1pm.
