Uses of the Erotic Workshop at Kolaj Fest New Orleans

Tubman by LaVonna Varnado Brown
11″x8.5″; digital; 2022. Courtesy of the artist.

COLLAGE WORKSHOP AT KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS 2023

Uses of the Erotic

with LaVonna Varnado Brown

LEARN MORE | REGISTER FOR KOLAJ FEST NEW ORLEANS

Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 7-11 June 2023. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend.

Louisiana-based LaVonna Varnado Brown is a multidisciplinary artist and community worker. She has developed her practice around intentional engagement to inspire action through creative expression. AfroFuturism is a cultural aesthetic that explores the intersection of art and history with intention to inspire action in the now by healing beyond trauma. In addition to curating intentional workshops, LaVonna creates works using acrylic, hand drawn form, and sculpture that speak from the experience of a Black mother creatively navigating the American landscape with a focus on healing and raising spatial awareness. Through her work she hopes to uplift the narrative of rest, joy, resistance, and wholeness.

The title of this workshop comes from an essay by Audre Lorde which begins. “There are many kinds of power, used and unused, acknowledged or otherwise.” Varnado Brown writes, “This workshop is a process by which we will raise our awareness of the erotic and its use as a source of power, healing, and self exploration. The erotic is a conduit to harness energy from a heart-centered space. By engaging in collage exercises and exploring our will to intentionally create space to begin to reclaim our right to our own erotic power. We will create space to intentionally explore the use of the Erotic as power through symbols, printed image, and composition work ending with a collage in process. The power of the Erotic awakens the knowledge that satisfaction is possible. Join with intention to explore as we make, discuss, and contemplate our will to access pleasure.” 

About Kolaj Fest New Orleans

Kolaj Fest New Orleans is a multi-day festival and symposium about contemporary collage and its role in art, culture, and society, 7-11 June 2023. Visit the website to learn more, see an overview of the program, and register to attend. Kolaj Fest New Orleans would not be possible without the support of the members of Kolaj Institute’s Golden Glue and Silver Scissors SocietiesKolaj Magazine and Kasini House. WEBSITE