Storytelling Toilets: Workshop Report

On Saturday 30th May, researchers from the Around the Toilet project met with a group of participants with links to two of our community partners, Queer of the Unknown and Action for Trans* Health. Held at Z-arts in Manchester, this was the project’s first workshop, with a focus on storytelling and experiences of toilet use. A huge range of important issues were covered by participants in the discussion, including the problems presented by toilets labelled as gender binary, anxiety around making ‘noises’ in the toilet, the barriers caused by the architecture of bathrooms and the potential uses of humour in thinking about the toilet.

The stories shared in the workshop were drawn live whilst they were being told by Sarah Smizz, an artist based in Doncaster. We’ll be turning Smizz’s drawings into postcards which will be available for free at future events.

Our next event is Toilet Talks: A speaker event on bodies, identities and design (more info here). We’ll be holding another participatory workshop event in July – this time using performance as a method of exploring toilets. If you’re interested in attending the workshop, please get in touch with us (contact details here).

Keep up to date with our movements by following us on twitter at @cctoilettalk and #cctoilettalk!