For our next Collective Book Club, this time hosted within The Thinking Hand exhibition, we will be talking about Do Your Own Thing by the artist and musician Richard Phoenix. The book details his experiences of the best underground arts scene you’ve never heard of—Do Your Own Thing, a project run by learning disability arts organisation Heart n Soul. Looking at the transformative potential of working to support creative young people make the music and art they want to, this book contributes essential new voices, reflections and considerations to the established ideas of ‘Do It Yourself’ culture.

Phoenix’s book, written with a disarming and idiosyncratic voice, asks what our often reductive understanding of DIY aesthetics might mean in light of questions about access, support and who gives permission to whom to make art, guiding us through the kind of project only spoken about in funding reports and transforming it into a polyphonic, collaborative and joyful work of art.

Do Your Own Thing is available to buy on our shop: https://www.devonshirecollective.co.uk/product/do-your-own-thing

This is an informal and friendly gathering, readers are also welcome to bring a text of their own choice to share with the group.

Free, all welcome

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