During the late spring and early summer* of 2021, Arika is running a writing residency project with Nat Raha and Mijke van der Drift.

Hosted by Scottish Sculpture Workshop in May, and Hospitalfield in June, this residency allows the two writers a rare chance to be in a space to write together as they work towards their new book trans femme futures.

Nat Raha and Mijke van der Drift recently took part in Episode 10: A Means Without End, where their study session Multilogics and Poetics of Radical Transfeminism – an urgent critique of fixed identities and binary logics – unpicked and entangled some of the threads that weave together their ongoing collaboration.

During the course of the two residencies, Nat and Mijke will also be reaching out to other collaborators and enfolding these conversations back into the work. Writing from SSW at the beginning of their stay, Nat and Mijke say:

This Spring, we’re working on our book trans femme futures, which roots transfeminism in nonnormative ethics and practices of care. The book project focuses on how transfeminist practices emerge from resisting conditions of precarity and harm, while enabling alternative possibilities and collective flourishing. It underlines a femme feminism that is geared towards trans liberation.

We arrived here – at our residency at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden – through our experiences of collective organising and life. We’ve been collaborating together since 2014, on conferences and workshops, writing and social events, in non-academic and academic spaces. We’ve been collaborating with people across various cities and countries, forging trans and queer friendship and solidarities, in on-going conversations with local struggles.

In 2016, we joined Arika Episode 8: Refuse Powers’ Grasp, which deepened our understanding of abolitionist politics. This was the beginning of our dialogue with and within Arika, which has included a panel, workshop and performance at Episode 10: A Means Without End. We’re excited to further our work with Arika. Arika is supporting our residencies at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop and Hospitalfield in Scotland. With the book project, we aim to hold space for continued conversations with old and new collaborators.

Nat and Mijke
May 2021

*of course it’s snowing

Following on from these two residencies, Nat and Mijke will be working on the book and working with collaborators. Further updates including a book launch event will follow!