PERMANENT healing and creative space for queer community
57 BOUNDARY ROAD
E17 8NQ
about MYXELIA
Myxelia is a collective formed around the intention to create a permanent space in London to house the healing needs of queer community, centering people of the global majority and to provide a safer and accessible space that cares for our multiplicities and marginalisations. We are a collective who embrace radical and decolonial principles of being and are committed to challenging normative ways in which western society forces us to move.
We are currently made up of 10 core organisers from different backgrounds and practices who have come together to co-create this space, and who are all committed to growth, harm reduction and collectively nurturing our part in the ecosystem of health and healing for our communities.
Our intention is to provide a sober space which is affordable both for facilitators/organisers and for visitors, where our communities can come together for healing and creativity, and to know that any activities in the building are run with care and awareness for our often complex identities. We invite practitioners, facilitators and organisers who would like to work within Myxelia to be in touch, and we will be holding monthly circles to meet one another in person.
Community Apothecary are on the ground floor, where people can source herbs and remedies as well as consult with medical herbalists. There will also be talks and participatory workshops on the benefits of herbal medicine for our bodies, away from the restrictions of western medicine practices.
The workshop space upstairs will house workshops, community events, queer family hangouts, open mic evenings, and whatever else comes through our doors in response to community needs.
The therapies room will house rotating therapists working with bodywork, therapy and consultations. We will be forming a radical therapy network amongst ourselves and within existing networks to be able to share knowledge and best provide safe, affirming and loving care for our communities.
This year (2023) we hope to soft launch at the start of winter, with the intention to pick up momentum in spring 2024. We are excited to bring this project to life, we’ll be taking it slowly to honour the time it takes for a solid network to grow and settle, and we are committed to holding and caring for the complexities we encounter on the journey.
MANIFESTO
Myxelia exists…
To look after the wellbeing of marginalised communities, specifically Queer community. For us, included in the term Queer is a radical challenging of normative ways of being.
For queer communities to access health, healing & wholeness on our own terms.
To resist racism and all forms of oppression rooted in hatred and harm to marginalised humans. We do not tolerate any form of emotional or physical violence, racism, misogyny, classism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, antisemitism, islamophobia.
To centre decolonial practices and thought processes.
To prioritise and centre space for the needs of folks of the global majority whilst being a space that welcomes everyone. At times the space or activity or event will be stated as being only for certain identities.
To be long lasting and financially accessible for practitioners and guests.
To support people and communities to create and run spaces and activities on our own terms. We recognise that communities are strengthened when specific spaces are made for and by people based around the commonalities between us and around our identities, which may be marginalised or erased within the context of wider society.
To always work with the intention to curate an inviting / open space that fosters co-education, healing and exploration of liberatory care practices.
To offer healing activity and presence, that becomes rich through the collective nature, and responds to the gaps in care in the dominant systems we are living in.
To create loving reminders that everyone - especially marginalised people should be able to access respite and return to their body with the support of practitioners and naturopathic modalities within this capitalist hellscape that we are currently navigating.
To consider health & healing as a whole ecosystem. We exist as part of a support network of like minded people and organisations responding to inequalities in care in the dominant systems we exist in.
To nurture connection to nature and spirit.
To encourage and enable all forms of creativity and healing that our community needs.
To provide a sober space holding workshops, health & healing practices, bodywork, skill sharing, solidarity, creativity.
To hold a safe space of belonging, healing and care for all members of the LGBTQIA+ community
To engage in an inclusive and welcoming way with local existing communities in Walthamstow and the surrounding areas.
To be an adaptable and responsive space that feels safe and accessible for the many folks in our communities who are neurodivergent.
To centre the motive of resourcing accessibility and creating languages of inclusivity that foster a safe/r, trauma informed environment for regular / consistent community building on an intergenerational scale .
To provide a space to hold patient and compassionate relationships with one another, whereby we will always seek to resolve issues through calm and considerate discussion when we are able to do so.
To be an intergenerational space for all ages, including those still in the womb, and to provide space for families to connect and grow.
To uphold principles included in transformative justice. We have all survived traumas and live with triggers that could mean we are unable to see clearly at certain times. We wish to provide loving care and support for all individuals in our community at these times.
To be ready and willing to address conflict, as part of a practice which we believe is core to growing, sustaining our communities, and co-creating futures together in strength and solidarity.
To practise as we grow, researching and sharing healthier systems of operating as a collective/organisation and as radical healthcare providers.
the building
Myxelia is based in Walthamstow, east London. We have been lucky to find a large building and have secured a lease of 15 years, with low ongoing overheads. Myxelia houses the Community Apothecary downstairs and a large workshop/multi-use space and therapies room upstairs. We are ready to be fully wheelchair accessible, with the correct sized doorways and bathrooms. Currently, only downstairs is accessible while we wait on funding to build an access lift.
We took on the building in an unkept state, which is why the ongoing rent is low. We have spent the past year doing the necessary work on it to make it usable, safe and accessible. The costs so far have been fronted by 6 individuals and a grant, and we are nearing completion. Costs have been much higher than expected, with the rise in materials costs, hidden structural issues in the building (as leaseholders we are liable for all costs) and commercial grade fixtures, fittings and safety necessities. This is why we are now running a crowdfunder to raise the remaining funds needed for finishing the build and launching the project.
THE COLLECTIVE
AAKS (they/them)
As an emerging spiritual abolitionist, Aaks enjoys shapeshifting as an artist, educator and cultural producer. They are a co-creator of misery, a creative mental health community and sober party for queer, trans, intersex, black indigenous, people of colour focused on harm reduction, healing justice, and cultivating community care.
They started their career as an LGBTQ youth worker, but over the last few years their work has been focused on collaborating with QTIBIPOC artists and collectives. They find joy in facilitating groups to tap into the fountain to redistribute power and resources that can support cultivating and embodying resilience to sustain grassroots queer, disabled and BIPOC communities.
As a mad capri-sun in recovery, they are often dreaming about a world where we can play freely and plotting & scheming safe and sustainable ways to make magic happen.
ARIYA (she/her)
Ariya is a storyteller and emerging filmmaker, tattoo artist and therapist. She is also proud parent to a toddler, and dedicated to crafting safe passage for young ones in this world through trauma informed communication and creative imagining of safety structures.
She comes from a background of migration and is looking forward to bringing intergenerational culturally-specific community spaces to Myxelia, particularly for those who identify as queer parents and migrants.
ASH (they/them)
Ash is a bespoke carpenter, and dedicated parent to their 6 year old young one. Ash has been making from a young age, They trained in hand-crafted furniture making in West Sussex, specialising in bespoke fine furniture and joinery. Ash works predominantly as an experimental woodworker in a workshop based in Walthamstow. For the past year they have been focused on building work in renovating the Myxelia building.
They have a strong belief in skill-sharing and sharing knowledge to empower others. They have been involved in off-grid community build projects in Cornwall, Madrid, and New Zealand, building straw bale houses and round wood timber frames.
Ash is excited to bring creative and practical workshops to Myxelia, to empower and inspire those from marginalised communities and young souls growing up in this world.
BECKY (they/them)
Becky is a trauma informed acupuncturist based in East London and Brighton, and has been working as an acupuncturist since 2012. Their early practice started in Oxford where along side a busy private practice, they set up an accessible, community health project supporting a team of complementary therapists in offering accessible care. The project has since evolved, and is now home to a low cost acupuncture hub for babies, children and teenagers.
Becky has developed their way of working through clinical practice, ongoing postgraduate studies and supervision, cross-disciplinary work, collaboration, nature based connection and their own health and healing journey which has been deeply supported by connections with people and nature.
Alongside offering treatments they have also worked to create systemic change around racism, transphobia and queerphobia within the acupuncture world, including regulatory bodies, educational providers, and colleague networks.
They’re now enjoying dreaming and exploring with Myxelia collective, and feel hopeful about their collective offering and the potential for healing. Before becoming an acupuncturist, Becky’s passion for both nature and people found them working in woodlands and on organic farms, in workers and community co-operatives, and supporting young people accessing nature.
INDY (they/them)
Indy (they/them) is a facilitator, multidisciplinary artist, theatre maker, activist, bodyworker, writer and kink coach. They are non-binary, poly and parent to a toddler; dedicated to loving, nourishing and queering spaces relating to family. They are passionate about the role of creativity in voice and justice for marginalised humans, and the healing potential of words, hands and plants.
They have been involved in many projects/organisations over the years working towards inclusivity for marginalised folks in mainstream spaces. These include facilitating with Healing Justice London, videography and facilitation with Alianza Arkana (Peru), co-running the Awareness Team at The Palace Residency, Co-founding Positions of Power collective at SOAS bringing awareness and healing to university classrooms, detainee support with SOAS Detainee Support (SDS), art directing/politicising the Barrio Loco field at Boomtown Festival 2018, facilitating with Rebel Soul at Shambala and multiple roles within The SanQtuary, Sex and Rage, The Sensory Alchemists.
They have an MA in Creative and Cultural Industries from SOAS, where their studies focused on Decolonising and Indigenating creative and cultural spaces; the bone deep change needed to understand creativity and wellbeing as an ecosystem of healing narratives and bodies. Their bodywork practice is focused on providing safe and accessible healing for marginalised folks.
ORLANDO (he/they)
Orlando works across various industries as a designer, maker/builder, project manger and draughtsman. From festivals, exhibitions, photographic and film shoots, private commissions and renovations, public art, fabrication and rigging, and gallery technician roles; Orlando has an extremely varied and broad range of experience with the intersection of technical and creative understandings. They favour projects that are artistically stimulating and collaborative with an emphasis on socially conscious and community led projects when possible.
Mentoring young people, especially those of queer and diverse backgrounds and identities, is increasingly a part of their practice and they have been fortunate enough to engage with this in the realms of Glastonbury (and other) Festivals as well as in the early stages of the renovation of Myxelia. Orlando has found great joy in sharing this broad rage of skills and knowledge and in empowering people to take their creative ambitions into their own hands, gain confidence in the process of designing and develop their own capacities for physical play and experimentation in that process.
Creating an intentional environment to nurture confidence in even a small range of physical skills and techniques in making can be extremely empowering and help foster a sense of creative possibility and agency in the world, as well as build inspiring and nurturing community bonds through a collectivised process of self actualisation. This is something they hope to bring with and continue in conjunction with Myxelia.
MO (he/him)
Creative producer, curator and community organiser. Mo works across various organisations that have a strong focus on bridging the gaps, highlighting the need for representation of marginalised communities within the arts.
He is art director of Shangri-la at Glastonbury festival, were his focus is on changing the festival culture to be more inclusive through programming stages and spaces that create opportunity for those who are not normally represented within the mainstream festival industry. He is on the board of Diversity and inclusion for Glastonbury festival and has worked with organisations to help create cultures that support diversity.
He has an MA in art and politics in which his main focus was creating intentional spaces for queer people to feel empowered and elevated, through exploring their identities and spiritual connections via the medium or art, rituals and archiving. Mo has worked with organisations such as Good Chance who focus on projects centred and led by displaced artists.
PIPPA (she/her)
With a degree in psychology, Pip (she/her) has focused on business and management. She has run an alternative gym for 12 years, is a certified level 5 sports massage therapist, and has trained in mediation. Having spent 5 years organising and managing queer spaces at different events she is passionate about providing safer spaces for our communities. Pip is looking forward to contributing her experience and skills, while continuing her own journey, within community with the Myxelia collective.
RASHEEQA
Rasheeqa (Hedge Herbs) is a medical herbalist in her community in Walthamstow in north London. She has been practicing since 2012, offering treatment with herbal medicine and teaching about its many aspects, alongside a wider mix of work whose aim is reconnecting us as communities with the potential of this knowledge and craft as a way to support healthier living systems and relationships.
She is inspired by her early involvement with the Radical Herbalism Gathering in exploring how to make plant medicine accessible and restore balance to its practice in the contexts of systemic inequalities and oppressions that are part of our shared histories.
She is part of Community Apothecary Waltham Forest, who will be inhabiting the ground floor of Myxelia and offering community herbalism activity. CA is a social enterprise that brings community members together around a patchwork of medicinal herb gardens where they can learn about growing and making medicines together, exchanging knowledge and peer support and seeding the model in other neighbourhoods so that we create landscapes of healing everywhere!
She was also a co-founder of the Mobile Apothecary in Bethnal Green, a street medicine distribution project bringing solidarity herbal healthcare to people from rough sleeper and less well resourced communities there.
TOBI (they/them)
Tobi Adebajo is an Anti-Disciplinary Artist, Full Spectrum Birth & Death Doula, Facilitator, Hair & Skin Care Specialist, Somatic & Sound Practitioner, Spiritual Worker, Writer and Parent.
They navigate various creative / communal spheres and are deeply influenced and inspired by nature, ancestry, creative collaborations and their various practices. They are a co-founder of Purple Rain collective and Femmes of Colour and are also a member of collectives such as Wastewomxn, Nawi Collective and My Blood is My voice.
Tobi is attempting to create a culture of confronting the toxic effects of indoctrination and its continued effect on humanity. With the question of : ‘who is not in the room? And why?’ as a central frame, they present evidence of varying levels of communal/spiritual language that we inherently possess but don’t always have the tools to access – framing this language as a basis for collective healing / liberation.
Tobi is enthusiastic about the possibilities for connection and deeper networks that Myxelia will facilitate.