Family Embodiment Programme: Ritual 4 – Re-Stor(y)ing Transformation, Braiding the Hybrid Bio-Landscape

The Family Embodiment Programme is a monthly ritual organised by artist Sun Chang. It invites participants to explore what it means to become family and to imagine different ways of building kinship. The programme is tailored to an intersectional community of queer and BIPOC migrants, creating a space to reflect on feelings of (un)belonging and to practise relationships of care and temporal kinship.

After reimagining the concept of family and focusing on repair in the previous rituals, this fourth ritual – Re-Stor(y)ing Transformation, Braiding the Hybrid Bio-Landscape – invites participants to explore kinship as a mix of biological, narrative, communal and ecological elements, shared through sensations, memories, sociality and storytelling. Together with participants, Sun Chang continues to explore the nature of change, with a focus on non-binary embodiment. The ritual moves away from dualistic thinking (such as wellness versus illness or repair versus damage) and instead steps into the in-between space of becoming, where the boundaries between human and non-human, and between subject and object, begin to blur.

The Family Embodiment Programme is a space for group healing and building community resilience. Participants practice radical rest, intentionally stepping away from pressures to be productive and reconnecting with their body’s wisdom, emotions, thoughts and community. The programme invites participants to imagine and nurture a more-than-human family, creating connections outside the norms of white-supremacist, colonial, capitalist, patriarchal and heteronormative nuclear-family culture. Participants are welcome to take part in whatever way feels right – whether that means actively sharing or simply being present with the group.

Dates & Times

The ritual takes place every second Saturday of the month, during the natural transformation from day to night.

Saturday 13 December, 15:30 – 18:30 (walk-in at 15:15)
Saturday 17 January, 15:30 – 18:30 (walk-in at 15:15)

To keep the group intimate, the ritual’s maximum capacity is 15 people. Register here.

This event is in English. Admission is free.

The space is accessible for those using wheelchairs, strollers, or other mobility aids, with a lift available for those who cannot use the stairs. The ritual is held on a floor setting with cushions, but chairs are available if required.

This is a research project led by artist Sun Chang, developed in collaboration with Framer Framed. It is supported by Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst and het Cultuurfonds. The ritual space holds co-creations from its participants. The incense sculptures Scentscape were created by Enaam, Isa, Kirti, Linus, Margo, Nardelly, Sonja, Sun, Sterre and pedagogically consulted by Sophia Simensky, as part of the welcoming ceremony for the programme; the hanging fabric installation Wind House was created by Eddie, Echo, Jinxiao, Jiwon, Les Lie, Min, Nikki, Sun, and Wang Xue in the first ritual; the kinship lexicon Water Bodies: Speculative Writing & Coining Kinship Lexicon was co-authored by belit, Denden, Echo, Isa, Jaadu, Jack, Jiyoung, Less Li, Neo, Qianyu, Sophia, Sun and Zaynab in the second ritual; the kinaesthetic drawings Discomforts were created by Dani, Gaia, Hân, Jaadu, Jack, Jiyoung, Jiwon, Less Li, Qianyu, Sharon, Sun in the third ritual.