Folklab

Folklab folkLAB is an interdisciplinary, devised, performance project in Pittsburgh,PA that is creating a new mythos through the voices of the under-represented.

folkLAB is a performance project in Pittsburgh, PA that aims to create a new American folklore narrative through the voices of the under-represented. To learn more about us go to www.folkLAB.net

Today is the last day of MAD May and before we say goodbye, we’d love for you to join:- + -facilatator/host/storytelle...
05/31/2021

Today is the last day of MAD May and before we say goodbye, we’d love for you to join:
- +
-facilatator/host/storyteller Nicole Gallegher and special guest storyteller (both founders of )
- our 4 MAD May featured artists and

for an evening of showing art, telling stories, and communal processing.

ONLY 5 SPOTS LEFT! Register at the linktree in our bio!

Now introducing our final  Artist of the Week, adrift Arguello and a glimpse at part of HELLO DARKNESS, one of her fant...
05/29/2021

Now introducing our final  Artist of the Week, adrift Arguello and a glimpse at part of HELLO DARKNESS, one of her fantastic three pieces featured in the virtual exhibition.

Be sure to check out all her pieces and learn more about adrift and her work at May/Be/MAD, a virtual art exhibition exploring radical mental health, NOW OPEN! *link in our bio

adrift Arguello (she/her) is an indigenous, autistic, neurodivergent, q***r, creative, abstract painter and poet here in the burgh who struggles with OCD and cronic illness in an ableist, capitalist society. Her art is emotional, layered, and textured. She creates from a place without rules, her materials come from found items, and she has a fondness for unconventional tools. Her pieces are an expression of her inner dialogue and processing of the world. Through her work she wishes to evoke emotion in others and she believes there is no right or wrong way to experience her art. Most of her art has been featured in shows promoting and advocating for autistic peoples. She believes in transparency and visibility to promote positive shifts and collectively create a better world.

adrift recent experience a destabilizing flood in her home, which is also her art studio... if you’re able to show her some support for flood recovery please share and make a donation to her GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-anita-and-joi-make-emergency-housing-repairs

Instagram:
Videos: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ruuGIf_VQg&feature=youtu.be

Today we are lifting up the work of this Saturday’s facilitators: and of 🌻 The Sunflower Collective 🌻 a radical mental...
05/27/2021

Today we are lifting up the work of this Saturday’s facilitators: and of 🌻 The Sunflower Collective 🌻 a radical mental health collective that focuses its services on the activism community.

Read more about them here and register for their Saturday 2pm workshop “Mental Health and Our Identity” at the linktree in our bio. Only 5 spots left!

Daeja Baker is an organizer and poet from Pittsburgh’s north side, born and raised. She has been involved in the activist community since 2008. She holds an MFA in poetry, a national peer specialist certification , and has an integrative community therapy certificate in progress. She co-founded Pittsburgh Feminists for Intersectionality which focuses on Intersectional approaches to community activism and education. Living with Bipolar I Disorder herself she is a steady advocate for radical mental health. She is a founding member of Sunflower Collective. She hopes to spread awareness about the intersections of being black, q***r, and mentally ill from her own experiences as well as other intersectional issues that exist in the Pittsburgh community. This is our fight, we fight together.

Rachel Nunes is an activist and organizer with a background in mass communications, and has been working within the labor movement for six years. She has worked with many organizers and coalitions in a direct action safety coordination and training capacity. She is a member of United Steelworkers Local Union 3657 Executive Board [President as of May 15, 2021]. She is a founding member of The Sunflower Collective, and in training to be an Integrative Community Therapy Facilitator. She is passionate about community building, creating and maintaining structures of community-based mental health care, with a particular focus on bolstering mental health support for activists and organizers. She is interested in addiction harm reduction and support, and exploring alternatives to traditional recovery programs.

We’ve got two last MAD May events this week!“Mental Health and Our Identity” workshop w/ Rachel Nunes and Daeja Baker of...
05/25/2021

We’ve got two last MAD May events this week!

“Mental Health and Our Identity” workshop w/ Rachel Nunes and Daeja Baker of the Sunflower Collective. Saturday, May 29th est
Mental Health and Our Identity

&

The MAD May GRAND FINALE!
“Show+Tell” event with facilitator/storyteller Nicole Gallagher of special guest storyteller Sara Tang, our featured artists Adrift Arguello, Elise Delgado, AM Disher and Jessica Gaynelle Moss, and time+space to share your work (option to bring an art piece), share yourself, and build community.
+++Limited to 20 guests, register early+++
Show+Tell: MAD May Grand Finale

more info at registration: eventbrite.madmayworkshops.com

🤝: Inside Our Minds@storiesinthetimeof , Sunflower Collective
graphics: Zev Woskoff

(PART 2)**CW: forced medical procedures, forced institutionalization, violence, anti-immigration sentiments, and general...
05/23/2021

(PART 2)
**CW: forced medical procedures, forced institutionalization, violence, anti-immigration sentiments, and generally triggering content concerning the history of violence in mental illness and institutionalization**

For centuries now, Western societies have been responding to vulnerable folks with lived experience of mental illness by forcibly placing them into institutions. Because people didn’t (and still don’t) understand what produces extreme states, for millennia, people who acted in strange ways or responded to the world differently, were thought to be experiencing the effects of spiritual forces such as demonic possession. In the 17th century, disturbances of mood and behavior began to be described in terms of bodily pathology which needed to be expelled. This can be rightfully described as a leap forward in one respect but this idea, that mental illness is a product of physiologic pathology, has produced centuries of suffering as we stab in the dark trying different strategies. Using this lens, which looks at the spectrum of human behavior as a binary with normal on one side and pathologic on the other, limits our ability to see the whole person. It prevents us from doing what is most important: caring for each other.

How much of this is new to you? How much did you previously think was just fiction (looking at you American Horror Story) We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments…

            

(PART 1)**CW: forced medical procedures, forced institutionalization, violence, anti-immigration sentiments, and general...
05/23/2021

(PART 1)
**CW: forced medical procedures, forced institutionalization, violence, anti-immigration sentiments, and generally triggering content concerning the history of violence in mental illness and institutionalization**

For centuries now, Western societies have been responding to vulnerable folks with lived experience of mental illness by forcibly placing them into institutions. Because people didn’t (and still don’t) understand what produces extreme states, for millennia, people who acted in strange ways or responded to the world differently, were thought to be experiencing the effects of spiritual forces such as demonic possession. In the 17th century, disturbances of mood and behavior began to be described in terms of bodily pathology which needed to be expelled. This can be rightfully described as a leap forward in one respect but this idea, that mental illness is a product of physiologic pathology, has produced centuries of suffering as we stab in the dark trying different strategies. Using this lens, which looks at the spectrum of human behavior as a binary with normal on one side and pathologic on the other, limits our ability to see the whole person. It prevents us from doing what is most important: caring for each other.

How much of this is new to you? How much did you previously think was just fiction (looking at you American Horror Story) We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments…

            

Aaaand it’s Saturday so who’s excited for the workshop @2! Only a few spots left! Register through the link in our bio 🧘...
05/22/2021

Aaaand it’s Saturday so who’s excited for the workshop @2! Only a few spots left! Register through the link in our bio 🧘

Join us virtually at 2pm for “Body as Resource, Body as Teacher, Body as Muse” led by interdisciplinary artist, bodyworker, and educator Moriah Ella Mason!

Want to learn more? Here’s some more info about our wonderful workshop leader:

Moriah Ella Mason (they/them) wants to understand who we are, how we got here, and how we’re all thinking and feeling about that. An artmaker, educator and bodyworker, they combine rigorous academic research with lived experience, words with dance, brain with body, living in the tension between ways of knowing and methods of being.Over the past decade Mason has created 7 evening-length performance works and a number of installations, video pieces, and short movement works. They have been granted residencies at Future Tenant Gallery (PGH) and Pearlarts Studios (PGH), and their works have been presented at the New Hazlett Theater (PGH), Kelly-Strayhorn Theater (PGH), vox populi (PHL), wild project (NYC), WOW Café Theater (NYC), and BAAD! (NYC).  In addition to their work as a creator and performer, Mason is a licensed massage therapist specializing in trauma-sensitive bodywork. They bring their deep background in embodied practices to their work (both paid and volunteer) in a variety of community organizing roles. Mason is currently a dance MFA candidate at Temple University and aspiring to bake the perfect babka.

                 

[Image description: Text reads: “Body as Resource, Body as Teacher, Body as Muse. Workshop with interdisciplinary artist, bodyworker, and educator Moriah Ella Mason. May 22nd at 2PM EST. Free! Register at folklab.net/madmay”]

Now introducing our third Artist of the Week, Elise Delgado, and her Community Mural: A Catalyst for Change!Be sure to...
05/21/2021

Now introducing our third Artist of the Week, Elise Delgado, and her Community Mural: A Catalyst for Change!

Be sure to check out the full mural and learn more about Elise and her work at May/Be/MAD, a virtual art exhibition exploring radical mental health, NOW OPEN at folklab.net/madmay

Elise Sanchez Delgado (she/her/hers) is a Puerto Rican artist and recent CMU graduate with a BS in Psychology. She enjoys a range of mediums from oil painting and sculpture to textiles and fashion design. With a scientific and artistic mind and background, she seeks to create interdisciplinary work that brings a voice to the unheard and underrepresented.

Her art tells her story and the stories of others within her communities. She has been working on the Community Mural Project for CMU as her Senior Honors Thesis starting June 2020, and has also participated and designed for Spirit Fashion Show on CMU’s campus for the last four years. Elise wants her past and future work to drive change and to create an understanding of feelings and experiences that are not recognized and often marginalized in our communities.

Website: writeedelgado.wixsite.com/lafuerza
Instagram:

Follow and support these folks! ❤️Today we’re shamelessly plugging these three Pittsburgh-based groups doing incredible ...
05/21/2021

Follow and support these folks! ❤️

Today we’re shamelessly plugging these three Pittsburgh-based groups doing incredible work to fill the gap in culturally responsive mental healthcare:


The Blackout on Mental Health is a group of three mental health professionals who came together to encourage individuals to be more open to recognizing what they are feeling inside, letting go of stigma, and rising above unspoken rules to stay in control of their mental health. The group raises mental health awareness in underserved communities and provides a safe space to talk.


Steel Smiling bridges the gap between community members and mental health support through education, advocacy, and awareness. They strive to connect every resident in the Pittsburgh region to resources and treatment.


The Center On In*******al Relationships works with individuals, teams, and businesses to stretch beyond productivity toward transformational leadership that challenges, inspires, and stimulates personal and professional growth. Unlike traditional “diversity and inclusion” consultants, they emphasize the importance of identity development and on expanding the definition of in*******al relationships as a way to address societal inequity. More than just workshops and training, the Center On In*******al Relationships offers purposeful and intentional individual or small group work.



[Image description: Logos for Blackout on Mental Health, Steel Smiling, and The Center for In*******al Relationships over a MAD May flyer]

Just because you only have five minutes doesn’t mean you can’t do something good for yourself! ⏰[art emoji]: [Image des...
05/20/2021

Just because you only have five minutes doesn’t mean you can’t do something good for yourself! ⏰

[art emoji]:

[Image description: The center of the image has the words “5-minute self-care” surrounded by “write down 3 nice things about yourself”, “step outside for some fresh air”, “drink some water”, “do a short mindfulness breathing exercise”, “book the appointment you’ve been putting off”, “listen to a song that makes you smile”, “find a video of cute animals online”.]

                 

Aaaaand we are live! 🎨🖼Head on over to our website to take a stroll through the online art gallery that is May/Be/MAD, a...
05/20/2021

Aaaaand we are live! 🎨🖼

Head on over to our website to take a stroll through the online art gallery that is May/Be/MAD, a virtual art exhibition exploring radical mental health.

Curated by folkLAB and Inside Our Minds, May/Be/MAD features stunning and though-provoking works by Adrift Arguello, Elise Delgado, A. M. Disher, Jessica Gaynelle Moss, and many others, with gallery music by Spencer Liberto!

*Explore the exhibition at folklab.net/madmay

[Image description: Text reads: “May/Be/MAD: a Virtual Art Exhibition, featuring works by Adrift Arguello, Elise Delgado, A.M. Disher, Jessica Gaynelle Moss, and more! Curated by folkLAB and Inside Our Minds. Now Open! http://folklab.net/madmay”]

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