Facilitated by Christina Tran

cover image source: my little red suitcase

Mending Diaspora is a workshop for anyone who has lived experience (either personal or intergenerational) with the ripple effects of displacement from their homelands. This workshop is a co-inquiry into the questions that arise around home, belonging, and lineages when there are holes, gaps, and ruptures to contend with. We will be using creative writing, shared storytelling, embodied movement, and mending practices to explore these questions together.

Adults, teens 15+ and accompanied youth are welcome.
Limited to 10 participants.

Workshop Details
DATE/ TIME: Sunday, May 26, 2024, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
LOCATION: JH Arts & Crafts Studio
425 SW Madison Ave. Ste. O-3 (basement)*
Corvallis, OR 97330
*note: stair access only to basement level

In this workshop we will be learning darning and sashiko as visible mending techniques to give ourselves embodied lessons in how we might notice, celebrate, and reweave diaspora.

Supplies will be provided, but you are encouraged to bring your own favorite hand sewing supplies if you have ‘em. Participants should bring 1-3 pieces of clothing that might need mending (e.g. socks, jeans, or woven sweaters that have some holes or worn areas). We will be working with visible mending techniques, so don’t expect perfection or invisible patchwork. If you don’t have anything that needs mending, you can practice on scrap fabric that we will have available.

Optional: You are also invited to bring something to share with the group that reminds you of your own belonging. It could be: some cultural food, a song, the language of your aunties, a textile or pattern that reminds you of your ancestors, a comforting smell, a memory, etc…

No sewing or writing experience is required to attend this workshop, but everyone should be willing to try and make mistakes and be messy as we learn together.

Registration is offered on a sliding scale from $25-$45. This workshop is made possible by a grant from Fernland Studios. No one will be turned away for a lack of funds. Please contact Christina at christina@sodelightful.com if you would like to attend this workshop for free, at reduced cost, or through gift economy barter.

Christina is an Asian American child of Vietnamese refugees who were children of Chinese immigrants/refugees. In 2023, she embarked on a Healing Pilgrimage as an inquiry into her many out-of-state moves: are these a result of personal wanderlust, fight-or-flight reactivity, intergenerational trauma, and/or the natural inclination of migratory beings to move toward comfort and safety, life and love? She is documenting her ongoing journey in essays at wanderinggrace.substack.com.

This class has reached its limit or has already started! See more classes at jenhernandezart.com/classes