Past Event
Chill-out spaces will be provided in two locations in the Gallery.
One is located in ‘G3’, a room accessible via the staircase in the main galleries. The other is in our Study Studio, which is accessible via the lift and staircase. This space will also be used to serve refreshments.
Please ask any member of staff if you are not sure and we will help you.
Join us to celebrate the summer on this day for families and community groups, full of free artist-led activities, exhibition tours, food and fun.
Foyer / G1, 8, 9 | 2pm, 3pm, 4pm
Join artists from Portugal Prints Studios who will lead tours of The London Open, paying special attention to personal highlights from the exhibition.
Spotlight ToursGallery 5 & 6 | 11:30
Come and listen to a storytelling session by an artist, socialise with other families and spend some time exploring our library of children’s books, within the inspiring surroundings of Whitechapel Gallery’s exhibitions.
Reading is FundamentalCreative Studio | 12pm
Join The London Open artist Anna Crystal Stephens for a den-building workshop. Together we will create a temporary structure: a soft den sculpture that we can inhabit.
Build a DenCreative Studio | 3pm
Rejoin Anna Crystal Stephens in our den sculpture to explore our relationship to plants, working with natural fibres to make string.
Wild ResourcesArchive Reading Room | 4pm
Join artists Rakiya Abdulahi and Amani for a workshop and conversation centred around cross-community exchange drawing from a range of queer, black and brown texts and visual media using storytelling, art as a method of bridging this exchange. Thinking for this workshop stems from a Postcards from the Diaspora session previously held at the Whitechapel Gallery.
I Can Show You Better Than I Can Tell YouStudy Studio
Delicious lunchtime refreshments will be provided by TATI Canteen, with snacks and drinks available throughout the day.
Anna Chrystal Stephens uses sculpture, action and photography to explore sustainable living strategies, self-sufficiency and the transition between nomadic and settled modes of survival. She investigates ancient practices like harvesting wild plants for food or medicine, learning about the edibility, uses and requirements of plants in order to viscerally understand rural and urban habitats. She is interested in small scale and integrated approaches to growing food as alternatives to industrialised horticulture.
Portugal Prints is a therapeutic arts project within Mind in Brent, Wandsworth, and Westminster. They have been bridging mental health support and artistic development since 1979. They work with artists living with mental health difficulties to construct a life beyond support services, a life of creativity and curiosity.
Art is at the heart of Portugal Prints and the main tool to empower people to express themselves to build resilience and to nurture meaningful relationships. With a non-clinical approach, they offer a tailored long-term, holistic support that is practical, social, emotional, and creative.
Rakiya Abdulahi is a DJ, sonic artist, community organiser and digital marketer. Their community work primarily involves co-facilitating a Queer Somali organisation and collective in the UK. Their work aims to centre Queer, Black people and their experiences; archiving and recording their stories interwoven through their music, sound and oral recordings.
Rakiya works with a horizontal and collaborative approach, encouraging access for all to the arts. They have performed at Pxssy Palace, Numbi Arts Festival, Let’s Have a Kiki, Cocoa Butter Club, Duckie and have spoken on a number of panels throughout London. Rakiya has recently begun exploring a filmmaking practice, having co-directed several upcoming music videos in 2022.
Amani’s involvement in community building at age 21 by co-creating a self-help group for Queer Somalis in UK, with the intention of becoming more acquainted with one another, helping each other feel more humanised, safe, filled with more resources and with more knowledge about our global roots.
Outside of community building, Amani is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose practice combines storytelling with movement. Amani’s work as a dance artist has been highlighted by ICA, Royal College of Art, English National Opera, Illamasqua and Tate Modern. Afi had their off-West End debut last year, starring in Sundown Kiki at the Young Vic Theatre.
