The relationship between queerness and faith is often seen as an antithetical and antagonistic one, as evidenced by recent high-profile protests in Birmingham. This panel explores the ways in which LGTBQ+ people incorporate faith and/or spirituality into their daily lives, and the ways in which sexualities can inform faith and spiritual practices. This conversation offers an informal space to discuss, unpack and navigate our communities’ complex relationship with religion and beyond.

This talk includes speakers Hafsa Qureshi, Chris Dowd and Robert Stacey.

Robert Stacey
Rob is the Pagan chaplain for Aston University and is the LGBTQIA officer for the West
Midlands branch of Pagan Federation. He is asexual has a husband Richard who is an
atheist. Rob has written a Charge of the Mutable One as a Pagan invocation for those who
sit outside the binary gender. He writes and performs poetry and stand-up comedy as well as
being a D&D nerd.

Hafsa Qureshi
Hafsa (any pronouns) is an openly bi and genderqueer Muslim, working to raise visibility and
awareness for their community. By talking about faith, sexuality and disability, she wants to
help destigmatise people’s perceptions of queer people of faith. She currently works within
content development for Stonewall (UK)

Chris Dowd
I grew up in Australia in a socially and theologically conservative community but when I left
to go to university, I realised that faith is a very complicated thing and easy answers are
rarely satisfactory. After immigrating to the UK in 1995, I worked for a consulting firm before
opening my own in 1998. During this time, I became a self-supporting minister who planted
two congregations for a small LGBTQ+ focussed denomination that I had joined in Australia.
I transferred to the United Reformed Church in 2013 and after finishing my doctorate, I took
up my first post in Hull in 2015. In late 2019 I arrived in Birmingham, with my partner Will,
our 2 dogs, and a flock of chickens. Since 2015 I have co-authored two books about how
churches can affirm trans and non-binary people and am currently researching with 3 other
LGBT clergy about the experiences of LGBTQ clergy in England.

Living Room Talks

Late capitalism has produced British cities with a decline in industry, massive socioeconomic inequalities and an environment that is more hospitable to business than it is to human lives. Reflecting on the ways in which queer lives offer possibilities of resisting this bleak status quo, this panel considers queer lives that use the city as a springboard for ways of living that resist the lifecycles of capitalism, offering hope in an otherwise cataclysmic political landscape.

Including speakers Mo Moulton, Ajamu X, Yshee Black and Lacey Alexandria.

Mo Moulton
Mo Moulton is a queer writer, a historian of the twentieth century, and an extremely-privileged migrant to this island. They work at the University of Birmingham's History Department and have published widely on subjects ranging from agricultural cooperatives to detective fiction.

Yshee Black
The self-proclaimed Alison Hammond of drag – Yshee Black – is loud, bubbly and always up for a laugh & known for her high energy performances. She hosts a lip-sync competition in Birmingham called “The Church of Yshee” that she started in 2017. On top of hosting and producing events around the UK, she hosts the Popbuzz Year Book that interviews the alumni of Canada’s Drag Race, Drag Race down under and Drag Race UK Series 2 & 3. Currently, she is working in London with Tuckshop on various projects such as The Crown drag competition and the West End Drag Panto “Dick Whittington”.

Ajamu X
Ajamu X (aka Master Aaab) is a darkroom/fine art, neurodivergent photographer, archive curator and radical sex activist. His practice incorporates portraits, nudes and studio-based constructed imagery which unapologetically celebrates black queer bodies, the erotic, pleasure and difference. His work has been shown worldwide in museums, galleries, and alternative spaces. He is the co-founder of rukus! Federation and the award-winning rukus! Black LGBTQ Archive. He is one of the UK’s leading black queer heritage, history, and cultural memory specialists. Most recently, he has co-founded Spit & Spider Press, an alternative publishing venture focusing on the radical materiality of the book.

Lacey Alexandria
Lacey Lou is a freelance event manager, visual artist and advocate for Diversity & Inclusivity. She began as one of Birmingham’s first female drag queens 8 years ago and has worked ever since to create a more inclusive community within Birminghams LGBTQ+ village and surrounding areas. One of her most proud achievements was working on the amendment of the dictionary definition of ‘Drag Queen’ to be gender inclusive. Lacey also began running inclusive events, which are still running including ‘Glitter Shit’, ‘Disco Pussy’, ‘Hooker Club’ and newly launched ‘Hu$$y’. Some of these events have been featured in Dazed and Confused Magazine, Teen Vogue and were part of Red Bulls Top LGBTQ+ events to attend in the UK.

The Living Room Talks

The Living Room talks have been conceived by Hassan Hussain and Patrick Vernon.

Join the artists behind Duckie’s performance ‘Princess, Picnic Promenade’, for this fun and fascinating chat. Focusing on the relationships between empire, Britishness, sexuality, and racism, this discussion grapples with many of the themes that have informed the Healing Gardens of Bab programme.

The Living Room invites you to join artists EJ Scott (of the Museum of Transology), Bird La Bird, Ange Loft (of Jumblies Theatre, Toronto), Alaska B, Kieron Jina and more, as they offer an insight into the queer histories and stories that animate their artistic work, and the political messages they want to communicate.

The Living Room Talks

The Living Room talks have been conceived by Hassan Hussain and Patrick Vernon.

Artist Biographies

Ange Loft
https://www.angeloft.ca/

Ange Loft is an interdisciplinary performing artist and initiator from Kahnawà:ke Kanien’kehá:ka Territory, working in Tsi Tkarón:to. She is an ardent collaborator, consultant, and facilitator working in arts based research, wearable sculpture, theatrical co-creation and Haudenosaunee history. She teaches Story Creation at Centre For Indigenous Theatre (2021) and was the Artist in Residence  at OISEE/ JHI (2021). She’s creating new performance work as Centaur Theatre’s Artist in Residence (2021-22) and as director of the Talking Treaties initiative with Jumblies Theatre + Arts, with projects including; experimental film and workshop series Dish Dances (2021) in collaboration with Centre for Indigenous Theatre, video and installation By These Presents: “Purchasing” Toronto (2019), and outdoor promenade theatre Talking Treaties Spectacle (2017, 2018). Upcoming collaborations include Black Creek Pioneer Village’s Changing the Narrative initiative (2022) and placemaking with the Canadian Centre for Architecture (2022). Ange’s been the Associate Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre + Arts since 2015 and a touring vocalist and designer with Yamantaka//Sonic Titan since 2012. She’s holds advisory roles with Native Women In the Arts as a Board member (2021), OCAD University’s Indigenous Education Council (2021), City of Toronto Indigenous Arts and Cultural Advisory for the Indigenous Arts and Culture Partnerships Fund (2018), and Toronto Biennial of Art Advisory Council (2018-21).

Alaska B
https://www.alaskab.ca/

Based in Toronto, Ontario, alaska has a Bachelor in Interdisciplinary Arts from Concordia University, a degree in Computer Animation from Sheridan college, and a passion for exploring the intersection between media and technology. Known for her problem solving skills, creative approach, and mix of expertise, her practice moves fluidly between digital media production, installation and musical performance. Her unique skill range has seen her trouble shoot as theatrical technician for large scale community engaged performances; produce and present her own animations and intermedia creations; and to build a striking musical catalogue that is grand in scope. As a composer and performer, her award-winning film and game scores (Canadian Screen Award 2019, Canadian Game Awards 2016) and songwriting (Polaris Prize nominated, Juno Awards nominated) have been heard all over the world. Her film work includes Through Black Spruce (2018) and Michael Shannon Michael Shannon John (2015). Her video game credits include Mark of The Ninja (2012) and the critically acclaimed Severed (2016, PS VITA, 3DS, WiiU, Switch, iOS).

Bird La Bird
https://www.birdlabird.co.uk/

Bird la Bird is an artist who straddles comedy and performance art. Drawing on her love of history and art Bird has created highly popular queer people’s history tours of the V&A, Tate Britain, the National Portrait Gallery and the City of London.

E-J Scott
https://www.e-jscott.com/home/media

E-J Scott is a curator, cultural producer and academic and was awarded the UK’s Museum Activist Award 2020/21. He is the founder of the museumoftransology.com and the British Digital Art Network (Tate/Paul Mellor Research Centre). He is Stage 2 and 3 Leader of the BA (Hons) Culture, Curation & Criticism at Central St Martins.

Kieron Jina
https://kieronjina.com/

Kieron Jina, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, specializes in performance art, choreography, photography and video art to tell personal stories that are underpinned by activism and to challenge stereotypes. He has an MA in Drama from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Jina was awarded Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans: Arts and Culture, category for performance art. Furthermore, he was awarded danceWEB Scholarship at the ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival. Jina has won multiple awards including the Ovation Award for choreography at the National Arts Festival & the Goethe-Institute International Coproduction Fund to create “Down to Earth” at Tanzfabrik Berlin. Jina completed artistic residencies that lead to collaborative performances and art creations in Brazil, Germany, Austria, France, Réunion, Nigeria, Tanzania, South Korea and Switzerland. He is the founder and curator of Queer Art Night South Africa and is currently touring with “#FemmeInPublic”, “Down to Earth” and “PINK MON€Y”.

Jina is creating more spaces for art that exists for people of colour (POC) and indigenous performance practices from different African regions. Jina is particularly interested in the challenges and complexities of the transitional millennial generation — a generation that experienced the end and fall of apartheid only to be flung into a country still grappling with its own trauma and healing. Jina studies this dynamic particularly in their exploration of the shifting identities of queer people of colour, a group that features centrally in their work.

Healing Gardens of Bab Funders

This talk explore the ways in which queer people subvert traditional relationships, the benefits of saying f*ck you to the heteronormative status quo, and the ways in which resistance informs ground-breaking art. Through a conversation reaching right across the globe, Canadian artists Jess Dobkin and Clayton Lee, and Australian artists Justin Shoulder and Bhenji Ra discuss themes such as alternative forms of kinship, belonging, and social/artistic practices which bring LGBTQ+ people together.

Living Room Talks