‘On Our Own Terms’ is an in-person workshop of poetry-writing and portrait photography for women in our 60s and 70s, with spoken word poet Leah Thorn and photographer Anita McKenzie.
This inclusive and dynamic workshop challenges our invisibility as older women by placing us centre stage on our own terms. It unites us across our differences and subverts society’s assumptions and prejudices about us.
Using film and poetry-adorned clothing from the ‘Older Women Rock!’ project, you will be supported to write poetry exploring issues facing women in our 60s and 70s. Issues such as the lack of older women in the media or the misrepresentation of us as a stereotype or a joke, the denial and dismissal of our knowledge and experience. It will explore how the beauty industry plays on insecurity that is manufactured by sexism and intensified by old-age oppression.
We will look at poverty and the fact that many women have smaller State pensions than men. The need to conceal or be ‘discreet’ about physical changes, like greying hair, facial hair or incontinence. We’ll talk about the default role of women as being a carer.
In collaboration with each woman, and as a visual response to the poem/s you write, Anita will create dynamic photographic portraits. The portrait and poem will be combined to create a new photographic image in post-production, which could be the basis of an exhibition and/or a zine. Each participant will receive a digital file of her portrait.
Please note:
For this workshop to be the best it can be, it requires a spread of demographics to take part. If you would like to join us, then please fill in this form. We will be in touch two weeks before the event.
how to take part
Please fill in and submit the form below by the end of Wednesday 10 May. We will be in contact with you by Friday 12 May to confirm your place: online form. You can submit the form through this link.
Any questions, do get in touch at [email protected]
To get an understanding of what to expect, watch the video below on a previous project from Older Women Rock. You can also find more of their work on Leah’s website.
About the facilitators
Leah Thorn
With warmth and passion, Leah uses spoken word poetry, autobiography and film to expose and challenge harsh realities of climate crisis, genocide, sexism and racism.
In collaboration with filmmakers and musicians, she has made award-winning poetry films that have been screened at feminist, eco, Jewish and poetry film festivals internationally.
As a facilitator, Leah has extensive experience of leading poetry and expressive writing workshops nationally in arts venues, mental health facilities, women’s groups, community settings, schools and prisons. Her facilitation style is rooted in her writing and performance practice, a background in psychology and 49 years of using and teaching peer-counselling.
Leah has an MA in ‘Creative Writing & Personal Development’ from Sussex University and is an International Fellow of the ImpACT research group, University of East Anglia School of Health Sciences.
Website: www.leahthorn.com
Anita McKenzie
Anita McKenzie’s professional and life passions evolve around family, food, faith and photography. She is an award-winning arts and heritage practitioner, and works with visual arts, across intersectionality, to amplify unheard voices through creative projects and collaborations.
Anita is an Interfaith Minister, Spiritual Counsellor and plant-based culinary practitioner; her integrated approach to community building, personal growth, self-care and wellbeing, transcends the Western normality of fragmented mindsets to delve deeply into the undergrowth of our lived reality and personal consciousness.
Instagram: @sistahintheraw @anitascreative
Photo by © Dan McKenzie-Cossou
Accessibility
The event will take place in the Apples and Snakes office. Please see The Albany’s website for access information about the venue. There is a cafe on site or you are welcome to bring your own snacks and lunch.