NotSoWittyWriter
We had some amazing speakers and support, like Charlie Caine! (@CharlieXCaine on twitter)
And our pride team came together so well, cis and trans alike worked together to create something moving and impactful.
My thank you note from tumblr!
Check them out here:
I Made this for the Trans Day Of Visibility event I ran recently, which was a creative exhibition of art and performances. I wanted to do a self portrait and was captivated by the idea that people are often curious about the scarring on my arm from my gender affirmation surgery, and I know people often want to touch it which can be crossing a boundary (that people always respect though) and wanted to offer people the opportunity to become more intimately familiar with the effects of transitioning without overstepping personal lines.
I wanted to use the nonbinary flag colours to represent that gender identity doesn’t determine physical expression – there was a way I needed to be and that makes me feel whole, and it doesn’t lock me into a gender binary. The background is purple ink, the arm and fist is water colour paper that I sewed down with a machine to echo the idea of stitches and surgery, and the keloid scaring is yellow candle wax that I painted on and then had to melt a little to give it a smooth surface. It isn’t a one-to-one comparison as my scarring pattern is pretty complex, and my skin and scars are much more supple, but it’s pretty close.
I measured the frame I made out of matchsticks carefully, but it still twisted somehow and it was difficult to get it to fit well. Nevermind, it’s not a deal breaker!
Ultimately, I have pride in my scars and don’t want to hide them away.
I’ve been working on this project for the last two and a bit years – it started after the 2019 general election but due to pandemic and how difficult it can be working with collaborators it took a few years to debut. Lots of people came together to contribute to this with short stories, poetry, and art – as it’s a community project it’s available for free on Lulu!
I designed the cover as well as contributing to and organising this project, which I think has been successful – hopefully there’ll be more like it in the future.
I painted this as a background for a Norwich Virtual Pride 2020 video, in which I narrated a short story, It depicts one of the bronze lions outside Norwich City Hall (acrylic).
A tale so tall is just as small
As the Lizard Laying in the dirt
Soon to sprout hair and fight on what’s fair
While the falling stars flirt
With an Earth across the way
I started working on this for a unions LGBTQ+ history performance, first verse I wrote turned out to be the last, and the best!
Copywrite Andrew K Copeman Feb 21st 2022
Asylum from Asylum (working title) is a play about two Prisoners in Norwich’s old “Insane asylums” – incarcerated for being poor and LGBTQ+, the play follows their time inside and their abuse at the hands of Doctor Galbraith. It features diegetic songs with piano accompaniment, through which the characters tell their stories of discrimination and suffering in the asylums. The project so far has been accepted for funding by the councils Arts Project, and a bid has been submitted to the Arts Council to write the first draft of a script and a prose accompaniment, and to put on a selected viewing for industry professionals which will be recorded and made into a promotional video.
The play is an allegory for the continued oppression of easily subjugated groups – those who live in enforced poverty, and those who belong to minorities – through the systematic abuse in health care and the justice system.
Song titles I have so far:
Down To Hell(sdon) – one of the asylums was (and is actually still running as a hospital) in Hellsdon.
True Manifest – of the “devil” in mental health difficulties.