skin to sky: queering kites

Part of Silvi’s skin to sky residency, queering kites is an invitation to translate the collective co-authored cyanotypes, made in previous workshops, into kites to fly. Translation is a central piece of Silvi’s practice and flows throughout the residency –– specifically how knowledge crosses borders from body to body, from land to land, skin to sky, transferring ways of being-with. The body in translation holds great capacity for flowing between states, and learning how to trust the body in flight, in flow, has been a central question in this project. 

For Silvi, kites carry a distinct place in their memory — having been raised in dictatorship in Albania, kites carry an association with military surveillance and symbolize childhood play accessible only to boys. This is an opportunity to reclaim kite flying for play and for queers, and to weave together traditional craft practices with a community-based method of image-making. The silk photographs created as a group, will shape-shift into the skin of the kites.

This translation shifts away from gendered, violent, colonial modes of being, and reveals a space for possibilities of reciprocity, relation, and radical play. In this workshop, we will collectively learn how to make and fly kites, with technical fabrication support by Yaeun Stevie Choi. We intend queering kites to be an accessible repository for all kinds of translations and ways of being-with to emerge. So if this speaks to you, please sign up!