Join us in our Art-making Workshops!

Sandy Abdelrahman and I invite you to come along to our weekly workshops to explore identities, sense of belonging and representation through various creative activities and take part in a full-day doll-making workshop! Learn new skills, let your creative juices flow and be part of a lovely community of people who also consider themselves 'Others'. The workshops will take place in Central London on August 16 and August 23, from 6:30 pm to 9 pm, and on a Saturday in September to be confirmed, from 11 am to 5 pm.

You can sign up on this link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/383338354337

The workshops consist of a variety of group dynamics and short exercises that will be followed by art-making sessions in which participants will learn how to make dolls from different materials such as fabric, paper and clay. All the pieces created by the participants will form part of a collective artwork that will be exhibited in the future to increase awareness and support for members of the 'Other' ethnic groups in London.

These workshops are aimed at people who consider themselves as 'Others' and who have lived experiences of otherness. All the artworks created during the workshops will take part in a collective exhibition and will be photographed for the social media, website, marketing and impact report of the project.

LOCATION, DATES AND TIMES

• Evening Workshops

Dates: August 16 and August 23

Time: 6:30 pm to 9 pm

Location: Marchmont Community Centre, 62 Marchmont St, London WC1N 1AB

• Saturday Workshop

Dates: September 3

Time: 11 am to 5 pm

Location: Story Garden, , Ossulston St, Somers Town, London NW1 1DF

Be aware that the workshops will be photographed and short video clips will be taken for marketing purposes.

COVID

In line with current government advice, restrictions due to Covid-19 have been lifted across the UK. Wearing masks is a personal choice. If you are experiencing symptoms or test positive, we would ask you to consider the community and stay at home. We do not have a stock of tests at the venue, but masks and sanitising gel will be available.

Subscribe to my blog posts here!

Making Bad Decisions Is Better Than Not Deciding At All

Last weekend, I was having a conversation with my photographer friend and collaborator Andrzej Gruszka about making decisions and how some people freeze when they have to make one. Admittedly, there are easier decisions to make than others, especially if the stakes are high, but not deciding at all is even worse than making the wrong decision. If all the decisions that you’ve made in your life brought you here, to this moment when you are reading this blog post, then you haven’t made too many bad choices, after all, have you?

I know that some people who are reading this post might not be going through the happiest moments of their lives, and probably some of them are due to their past choices. However, making a series of bad choices doesn’t necessarily mean that you will never be able to make the right decision again in your life. Besides, no one is capable of making great decisions 100% of the times. All of our current circumstances are the result of both our good and our bad choices.

I used to have a boss who would tell me that she liked delegating on me some of her tasks because I wasn’t afraid to make decisions. For her, it didn’t matter if I made the right or the wrong choice; what was important was that I always found a way not to stagnate the projects in which I was involved.

When I am faced with a challenging decision, I try to make as much research as I can to make an informed choice. Most of the times, the outcome of your decision is not as important as the process that you took to arrive at said decision. This is particularly true when all of your options will have a positive outcome, even if the paths forward might be completely different.

Another strategy that works for me, whenever possible, is delaying the decision. Gather all the information that you need to make your choice but sit on it for a while. Some people say that procrastinating can be some sort of decision-making process. There are decisions that don’t need to be made right away.

Whichever your decision-making process is, don’t avoid making them because if you don’t make the decision, someone else will make it for you and you won’t have a voice in it. If you make the right decision, you will move forward; if you make the wrong decision, you will learn from your mistake; but, if you don’t do anything, you will never grow.

Photo credit: behind the scenes by Andrzej Gruzska.

Do you like what you just read? Subscribe to my weekly blog posts here!