Staffordshire St MAKES | The Arrival: What's in my Suitcase? | Stove by a Whale workshop

As part of our exhibition Stove by a Whale, Staffordshire St invites you to a collaborative workshop. 

Join artist Bettina Fung | 馮允珊 to explore the journeys made by our ancestors in their search for home. The workshop will be a chance to explore the exhibition in a creative manner, where we will make object responses that will become part of the installation.

Using the crayon rubbing technique as a starting point to explore the peculiar objects in the gallery, we will create evocative images inspired by our imaginings of our ancestors’ journeys in search of home as well as touching on our own sense of home. 

Participants are also encouraged to bring in their personal objects found in domestic or public environments, share their object stories and incorporate them into their crayon rubbings. These personal objects can be a tea bag, a leaf, a pebble, a lucky token or a piece of jewellery. 

The workshop will culminate with us making objects out of our rubbings, where they can be incorporated as part of the exhibition.

Basic drawing and craft materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your own materials.

Saturday 20th April
Time: 14:00 - 16:00
The workshop is suitable for 16+

Free or PWYC if you are financially able, please consider paying more, to keep Staffordshire St events accessible to all.

Bettina Fung | 馮允珊 | bettinafung.com | @bettinafws

Bettina Fung | 馮允珊 is a British-Chinese artist based in London. Her practice encompasses 2-D, site-specific and performative works. She often incorporates the act of drawing into live art, sharing her process of creating, where the work unfolds over time. Subjects explored and questioned within Bettina’s work include legacy, belonging, productivity, the practice of ‘commoning’ and care, self-organising and learning. She is curious about how an artwork can hold space for people to share, learn and collaborate, where it could set up and maintain the conditions for what is needed to emerge. Currently Bettina is developing new works around the subjects of loss, collective mourning and commemoration and has also expanded her practice into tattooing.

About the exhibition: Staffordshire St presents Stove by a Whale, a collaboration between Steven He and Seongeun Lee curated by Jiayue He. Together, they draw inspiration from their different journeys. Steven’s utopian fictions are envisioned through tracing the source of ideas and cultural traditions back to their origins whilst Seongeun translates the harsh realities of life into the language of dreams. Jiayue brings these two together to explore the notion of contemporary archives questioning how individuals connect to their roots and claim their identities.

A space where tides change, and the ground isn’t firm.

Accessibility: There is step-free access to the gallery via the door to the left hand side of the main entrance. There is a wheelchair accessible toilet. The event will be taking place in the exhibition space, which is a large open room with bright lighting and some seating available.

Staffordshire St is an independent project space in Peckham, South East London. The venue facilitates arts and cultural events and provides affordable studios for artists, makers and designers. ​

Staffordshire St is not-for-profit and all income is invested into developing our public programme which launched the summer of 2022. The venue was established as an art gallery in 2017, before then it was vacant for many years after a community centre closed. Originally it was built as a Methodist Hall. We intend to support a range of cultural events for the local community.

Staffordshire St will build on the established record of these histories, opening up again to the neighbourhood and developing a welcoming interdisciplinary arts space. More information on upcoming events at : info@staffordshirest.com or @staffordshirest

For any upcoming opportunities, please sign up to our newsletter here.