CoLab Birmingham

CoLab promotes interdisciplinary education and well-being practices through contemporary art. The Birmingham edition of CoLab is led by local artist Exodus Crooks, and climate expert Susanne Boerner from the University of Birmingham, with support from psychotherapist Karen Dhlamini, and project managed by Candice Nembhard.

CoLab Birmingham aims to enable young people to understand and address the complex issues surrounding the climate crisis. CoLab’s aim is to provide durability and lasting impact to the climate crises in individuals and in the Holyhead School. Throughout the workshop sessions, students use sound, painting and sculpture to explore eco-anxiety and autonomy. During the sessions, students will experiment with environments to respond to themes such as nature and landscape preservation and food and water scarcity. The project will conclude with a printmaking experiment for students to create their own climate protest posters, inspired by the 1968-1971 Camden poster workshop.

Workshop dates

Monday, 19th June 2024

Monday, 3rd July 2024

Wednesday, 19th July 2024

Friday 21st, July 2024

This project is supported by Freelands and Saintbury Trust.

Contributors

Exodus Crooks (they/them) is a British-Jamaican multidisciplinary artist, educator, and writer whose practice centres the relationship with self. Observing the results of fractious domesticity, despair and passion, their art tends to appear as questions of self-actualisation and the role that religion & spirituality play in that journey to enlightenment. 

Candice Nembhard (okcandice) ((s)he/they) is a writer, artist-curator, archivist, and musician between Birmingham and Berlin. They are a Jerwood Arts Curatorial Fellow and Obsidian Foundation Fellow. Candice is a co-founding member of the collective poet & prophetess and co-director of the non-profit Bredryn CIC. In 2019, they founded all fruits ripe — an independent series for queer, Black/Global Majority filmmakers. 

Karen Dhlamini (she/her) is an art therapist based in the East Midlands. Dhlamini collaborated with multiple organisations that provide aid to communities in diverse ways, including those focused on empowering women, supporting children, and helping families.

Susanne Boerner (she/her) is a climate specialist and researcher from the University of Birmingham, who concentrates on the intersection of youth everyday actions, emotions, and urban well-being amidst interrelated urban predicaments. Susanne has a keen interest in exploring the encounters of individuals living and developing “at the margins”, including children, young adults, and multi-generational settings of knowledge creation.

Image credit: Collage of student works. Photo by Exodus Crooks