We are looking for 8 participants to join a workshop developed in response to the legacy of artist and activist Tessa Boffin.

Led by artist Stuart Waters and developed in collaboration with curator Polly Wright, Where We Touch the Archive explores ways of encountering and re-examining Boffin’s archive through embodied and creative practice.

Working with a range of strategies including movement, text, props and image, the workshop will invite participants to engage with key threads within Boffin’s work and archive. This includes The Visual Aids Workshop pamphlet, which documents a workshop devised and shared by Boffin, and offers a starting point for thinking about how knowledge, experience and histories can be collectively revisited and reimagined. The workshop will draw upon Stuart's practice in connection to this, bringing queer methodologies together through movement.

Rather than approaching the archive as something fixed or complete, the session will consider what happens when we touch, activate and respond to archival material together. Through practical exercises, discussion and experimentation, participants will be invited to explore the relationships between bodies, images, objects, memory and the archive.

No previous experience of performance or archival research is required - the workshop is open to those interested in exploring these ideas through creative and collaborative practice.

Participants will receive an honorarium of £40 for the session. To sign-up for your place email polly@devonshirecollective.co.uk‍

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This workshop will take place within Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive, Draft 3 at Phoenix Art Space, part of Photoworks Festival.

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Stuart is a Eastbourne based artist, facilitator and accredited coach (EMCC) with over 26 years’ experience across performance, teaching, pedagogy and leadership in the UK and internationally.  An alumnus of Northern School of Contemporary Dance (BA) and London Contemporary Dance School (MA), his practice has evolved from performing and touring to creating, mentoring and curating projects that centre care, access and inclusion.

His work explores the intersections of mental health, disability, neurodiversity, HIV and queerness through embodied studio and performance practice, with major projects including Rockbottom (2016–2019), A Queer Collision (2021–2024), Queer:mess (2025-2026) and the ongoing Head:On:Conversations.  Stuart has collaborated with and been supported by organisations such as The Place, Wellcome Collection, FABRIC, South East Dance, Devonshire Collective, Pavilion Dance South West, British Council, Immersive arts awards, Arts Council England and Brighton Festival.

Stuart is an advocate for disability and mental health step-change in the sector, currently a trustee of both STEPPS and Dance Network Association, with previous trustee experience at Candoco Dance Company.  He is an alumnus of Unlimited and has been part of the Clore programmes ‘Inclusive Cultures’ (2011) and ‘Leadership Pulse’ (cohort 2025-2026).

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