In collaboration with Queen's Reads and centered around our What are you reading? exhibition series, Union Gallery will be hosting a free and virtual Bookmarking Social. Participants can decorate bookmarks with materials of their choice, while socializing with peers and discussing the 2021-2022 Queen's Reads selection, I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World by Kai Cheng Thom.

SUGGESTED MATERIAL LIST

Paper - have fun with this!
(Magazines, patterned paper, newsprint, etc)
Scissors
Glue stick

*Optional materials to add some flare
Ribbon / String
Pencils / Pens
Glitter
Paint

Pick up your copy of Kai Cheng Thom’s book and bookmark template at Union Gallery before the event.

If you have any questions, contact Union Gallery: ugallery@queensu.ca / 613.533.3171

Inspired by the Queen’s Reads Discussion Questions, we will explore the following prompts during this social:
Within social movements, how can we create spaces that foster well-being, caring, and collaboration, while also holding folks accountable for their harmful behavior? What is a model for social movements you have experience that works well? Doesn’t work well?

“What would it take to build a community where we were really safe? [...] safe enough to pursue intimacy and adventure with the knowledge that there really was a community that had our backs?” (p. 65)

What does family mean to you? Chosen family? Community?

What does representation look like to you? How can we include/promote varying narratives of safety, hope, and joy?

WHAT ARE YOU READING?

What are you reading? is a dialogue across time and space: we mine the Union Gallery's archives to transport viewers into other dimensions, tell new stories and imagine new possibilities. Similar to our lives and spaces, time is fluid and transitioning. Rather than presenting a linear pattern of social and cultural history, we trace the push and pull of different historical moments in time with future-oriented texts and utopic readings of the world.

This iteration of What are you reading? takes inspiration from Queen’s Reads 2021-2022 selection, I Hope We Choose Love: A Trans Girl's Notes from the End of the World by Kai Cheng Thom. Many thanks to Clarissa de Leon for her thoughtful collaboration on a series of programs that will be activated throughout the duration of this curatorial project at Union Gallery. We invite everyone to join us in the Queen’s Reads program.

Queen's Reads

Each year, a committee of students, staff, and faculty chooses a book for our Queen's community to read together. These books are ones that encourage readers to listen to underrepresented voices and frequently unheard stories. Through events and programming, Queen's community members are invited to meaningfully participate in critical and creative conversations that are inspired by the Queen's Reads books with a specific focus on questions concerning equity, diversity, and inclusion; community dialogue; and hope. All Queen's community members can opt into the Queen's Reads program and receive a free copy of the book. For the 2021-2022-year, electronic and limited physical copies of the Queen’s Reads book I Hope We Choose Love by Kai Cheng Thom are available on campus. If you have any questions about Queen's Reads, please contact Clarissa de Leon (co-ordinator): clarissa.deleon@queensu.ca