Cyanotype + Embroidery workshop for LGBTQ+ people of colour

Jaixia Blue is leading a cyanotype and embroidery workshop at Firepit Art Gallery and Studios on Saturday 17 October, from 1:30pm to 3:30pm. It's a two-hour session open to LGBTQ+ people of colour, and it sits within the Earth to Us workshop collection, put together to mark the launch of Earth to Us, an exhibition of queer folk of colour in nature.

The session covers two distinct crafts. First, you'll make sun prints using cyanotype, a hands-on photographic process that produces blue-and-white images. Then you'll embroider onto textiles, layering found and personal objects to create a resist print and build an inner self-portrait. The two come together on fabric, so you'll leave with something you've made from scratch.

Jaixia Blue is an interdisciplinary storyteller and facilitator of meditative creative workshops, and her practice spans textile art, song, poetry and film. Born in West London and an MA graduate of the Royal College of Art, her work looks at matrilineal ancestry, ecology, dreams and diasporic memory, often through natural dyeing and screen printing. This workshop is part of the Earth to Us series, which is hosted by Touch Grass — an outdoor community for queer women, trans and non-binary people of colour, committed to fostering community growth through outdoor gatherings and wellness-focused trips.

It's for over-18s, and all the materials and light refreshments are provided, so you don't need to bring your own kit. A water bottle is recommended. The venue is Firepit Art Gallery and Studios CIC, Ground Floor, Retail Unit, 10 Cutter Ln, London SE10 0XX, with North Greenwich as the nearest station. The workshop runs from 1:30pm to 3:30pm on Saturday 17 October.