Saturday 15 March 2025

Creative Bereavement Zinemaking Session with Switchboard

AQuA Reading Room, Victorian Pride Centre
Mezzanine, 79-81 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Switchboard’s LGBTQIA+ Suicide Bereavement Program is hosting a series of creative bereavement sessions where participants will connect with loss after a suicide by participating in expressive exploration. When we experience grief, we feel big emotions, creativity and movement. Creative expression can allow us to understand our experiences differently, help us in our relationship to grief, and assist with connecting to our feelings and experiences that can feel beyond words.

Please register and leave your details for a call back to discuss your interest in attending.

One of Switchboard’s staff will be in touch to discuss with you what it might be like for you to attend this session or explore other support options.

Session 

Date: Saturday, 15th March 2025

Time: 2.00pm – 5.00pm AEDT

Location: Australian Queer Archives, Victorian Pride Centre, 79-81 Fitzroy Street, Saint Kilda Victoria 3182

Facilitator: June Bellebono; Grief Facilitator and Writer June Bellebono is a facilitator and writer interested in the politics of grief and the way they intersect to our LGBTIQA+ identity. They first started making zines whilst co-organising a DIY festival for punks of colour in London, and have been creating and/or curating them since, both individually and as part of collectives. They have facilitated zinemaking workshops for LGBTIQA+ organisations, museums and libraries, nurturing spaces of connection and resistance. They are passionate about participants using zines in whichever way benefits them: as a tool to process complex emotions, as a manifesto for political change, or simply as a way to be in a craft-centred space with community.

Australia Queer Archives holds the largest collection of material relating to Australian LGBTIQ+ life, with over 400,000 items of archive, library, museum and gallery material.

Activity 

In this workshop, participants will be making zines, in memory of someone they’ve lost to suicide, as a way to explore their continuing bond, carving intentional time to produce a manifestation of their loved one and their unique relationship. This could look like creating a collage of their person’s favourite things, or abstractly representing them with paint, the final product can be as unique and personal as the relationship itself. Using the Archives collection and their focus on legacy as a starting point, participants will be using collage and crafts to create zines they’ll be able to take home, as a remembrance resource to access going forward, honouring those they’ve lost and building on their legacy.

Registration 

Places are limited so please let us know as soon as you can if you would like to come along. If you’d like to join other LGBTQIA+ people who have lost someone to suicide and be involved in these creative series, please register via this event. One of our team will then get in contact with you to speak to you further about your interest in coming along. If you have any questions about the event before you’d like to register please reach out: 0437 918 239 or via email: [email protected]

Accessibility

Please find accessibility information for the Australian Queer Archives here.

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