19:00

Join Radical Faerie activist Shokti and artist and researcher Simon Olmetti for a conversation exploring the Radical Faeries, a worldwide network of queer spiritual practitioners and activists. The session will begin with a screening of film works including documentary footage of a gathering of the Radical Faeries of Albion. Shokti and Olmetti will then delve into a discussion expanding on the Faeries’ methodologies around collective gathering in nature and redefining queer consciousness through secular spiritual practice.

This session has been organised by artist, researcher and A/WA member Simon Olmetti. The session is free to attend and will be held on Zoom. Please register by emailing info (at) artworkassociation.org. Registered attendees will receive the link 10 minutes in advance of the discussion.

Shokti (Mark Whiting, he/they) has been a Radical Faerie activist for 20 years, and is an organiser of Queer Spirit Festival. Raised in the Suffolk countryside, Shokti studied history at Cambridge University and Film Production at Bristol University before rushing to London to explore gay life and culture. He awoke to the spiritual dimensions of life through his journey with HIV/AIDS, which led him to discover the ancient associations between homoeroticism, gender-variance and the sacred, and since 2005 he has been holding spaces for queer people to explore and share their spirituality, including the monthly Full Moon Queer Spirit Drum Circle and Queer Spirit Festival, which was attended by 500 people in 2019 and will be manifesting again August 17-21 in Devon this summer.

Simon Olmetti (he/they) is an Italian artist living in London and a PhD candidate in Fine Arts at the University for the Creative Arts, Farnham. Their practice-based research focus on the intersection between Land art, Queer Spirit and Neo-materialism. Simon’s work has currently been selected for Visions in The Nunnery 2022, Bow Arts, and has been shown at various exhibitions including the Brighton Photo Fringe and the Ledward Centre.