In contact with stone
with Elizabeth Tomos
Tickets: https://ticketpass.org/event/EONKAU/the-convivial-x-elizabeth-tomos
What stories do stones tell? There is an African proverb that “Mountains don’t meet, people do”, but if stones do meet each other from different places, countries, or even continents, what passes between them? What languages do they speak? How do they converse with each other? Do they experience longing for home when they are separated from their homelands? What do the stones yearn for? What do they remember? And what do they desire?
Join artist, arts educator and activist Elizabeth Tomos for a deep exploration of what it means to be in contact with stone in the context of uprooted belonging. The ecological crisis is, at least in part, rooted in our severance from the ecology to which we belong. We have lost sight of the idea that we belong to the land, rather than the other way around. But what does such belonging mean if you are uprooted from the place that you know? Stones in the mythology of Elizabeth’s Welsh heritage are often characterised as portals to other worlds - liminal sites in which the veil between worlds and worldings is thinner. In this session for The Convivial, Elizabeth will ask: Can we, the stones and me, be in communion with one another in our displacement, and longing, and searching for home? In suffering are we perhaps kin? Can we be portals for one another to transform ourselves and each other, to take us to other places and other realms? And if so, what would any of that mean?
Throughout this evening’s session we will attempt together to converse with stone. Please bring with you a stone that has some significance to you.
On the Sunday 7th December following the session, Elizabeth would like to warmly invite you to come to Tehidy Country Park from 1pm to 3pm (tickets available soon via www.theconvivial.co.uk) to continue the conversation in an outdoor context. Together, we will take our stones to converse with the woodland.
Speaker
Elizabeth Tomos is an artist, arts educator and activist. She is currently Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Falmouth University and has worked in Higher Education for over 15 years in various arts contexts. Her studio is currently at Krowji, Redruth, where she runs her own practice integrating performance art and printmaking to create site-specific happenings with an environmental focus.
Elizabeth has recently started Cornish Inks, a small artists' enterprise with her partner Jennifer Nunez, and friend Sarah McCartney, making site-specific earth pigments and botanical inks from the Cornish landscape. She is also the director of Trans-States, a community interest company, running events related to esoteric scholarship, and she has curated two exhibitions as part of this collective in recent years.
What to expect
6pm - arrive
6.30pm - talk begins
7.40pm - dinner (vegan) is served
8.10 - 9pm - Q&A/discussion
9-9.30pm - soft close, socialising
This event is BYOB - please bring along a drink to have yourself and/or to share! There is a SPAR shop just a few meters up the road. There will be a selection of soft drinks available at a low cost.
Tickets
All tickets include a hot vegan meal. Please refer to the following suggestions when booking your tickets:
No spare income - pay what you can! £0+
Low spare income - £5
Medium spare income - £10
High spare income - £15
Supporter ticket - £20+
Tickets: https://ticketpass.org/event/EONKAU/the-convivial-x-elizabeth-tomos