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Local artist confirmed for residency to amplify queer voices in celebrating the region’s marine heritage
Newton Aycliffe-based performance poet and illustrator (as well as an alumni of the NARC. Academy), Lizzie Lovejoy has been offered a residency that will see them hold workshops with locals to collect and share their stories of the sea.
This project and year-long celebration, Queer Shores and Seas, has been commissioned by SeaScapes Co/Lab in partnership with Curious Arts and Living History North East, as one element of SeaScapes: Tyne to Tees Shores to Seas – a multi-million-pound marine heritage project funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund. It aims to reveal some of the hidden heritage of our seascapes and
Lizzie’s residency will specifically explore the relationship between our region’s marine heritage and queer culture and will result in them combining visual arts with the written word in a performance and exhibition this November.
Lizzie adds: “The workshops will be primarily story-collecting sessions, with elements of both creative writing and reportage drawing explored by those that take part.
“This will lead to the creation of a range of images and a series of poems and everyone that is part of a workshop will have the chance to have the work they produce featured at the exhibition and performance night.”
The story sessions begin in May and will be held in several community locations south of the Tyne and north of the Tees, including Souter Lighthouse in South Tyneside and the Northern School of Art in Hartlepool (where Lizzie studied illustration) and there will also be a virtual element to ensure accessibility for all.
Suzy O’Hara of SeaScapes Co/Lab said, “We know Lizzie’s work will help us magnify the voices of underserved LGBTQIA+ people living within the SeaScapes area and safeguard the oral ‘living histories’ that will contribute towards conserving the richness and diversity of our natural, cultural and marine heritage for future generations.”
To follow the progress of the Queer Shores and Seas, click here.
