Angry Girls: Art, Activism and Rage
Blog by Kerry Lindeque, Angry Girls Collective Project Assistant
‘Anger is the assertion of rights and worth. It is communication, equality, and knowledge’ – Soraya Chemaly, Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger
When talking about our Angry Girls project, this quote by Soraya Chemaly always comes to mind. It perfectly captures the collective’s goal: to challenge the misrepresentation of marginalised gender’s anger to drive positive change for a more equitable society through creativity and activism.
What is Angry Girls?
Launched in February 2023 in collaboration with Chula Education, a girls’ empowerment and education charity – Angry Girls was born out of a frustration at the media’s portrayal of women’s anger – as hysterical and irrational – ultimately devaluing the thoughts and feelings that were being expressed. At Chol and Chula, we sensed the need for a safe and inclusive local space for young women and gender diverse individuals to share experiences and express their anger. Thus, the Angry Girls Collective was born.
Harnessing arts engagement and skills development, the Angry Girls Collective is a participatory-arts programme bringing together marginalised genders from varying backgrounds to build meaningful relationships and develop new skills, including poetry, performing arts, filmmaking, advocacy, and activism. Ultimately, the project aims to channel young women and gender diverse people’s anger and isolation into them becoming positive change makers in their local communities.
With co-production being at the heart of what Chol does, it is important to us that workshops for the Angry Girls programme are created in collaboration with local organisations, freelance artists, activists, and workshop participants themselves. We want to use co-productive methods to make the programme as tailored as possible to participants’ aspirations and needs, whilst generating opportunities for creativity and activism in the city and strengthening the local creative landscape.
Working with Chol
As a recent University of Sheffield graduate, I joined Chula Education to support the Angry Girls project. My responsibilities include developing workshop ideas, fostering collaborations with local industry professionals, and leading marketing and communications. I have absolutely adored being part of the project so far, it has been so empowering to create a safe space where marginalised genders can come together to share, rage, and celebrate. I feel fortunate to be part of the Chula team and I’m thrilled to announce my transition to a Young Artist role with Chol.
Working with Chol has been fantastic: their flat structure and co-creation values made me feel valued and essential to the team from day one. I’m excited to continue working with this amazing team and on the Angry Girls Project.
What Angry Girls has been up to
We had our incredibly successful launch event in February, with 60 attendants getting to take part in zine-making by Chella Quint and an embroidery workshop, as well as watching performing arts by Sheffield College and a rap performance by Kid Blue. Building on that momentum we hosted an intimate creative writing workshop in April with local poet, Rae De Soleil, which explored marginalised gender’s anger and how it can be our protector.
In June 2023, Chol Associate Lauren Townsend and I attended the World of Women (WOW) Festival in Rotherham to chat all things Angry Girls! We joined Maggi Clarke, Jazzmine Walton and Lauren Howie on the Local Conversations panel, hosted by BBC Look North’s Sabbiyah Pervez, bringing together local change makers. The festival was empowering, it was brilliant to meet and connect with so many radical women and share the work that Chol and Angry Girls does.
Whats next for Angry Girls?
Looking to the future, we are working to secure funding to host future workshops, and reaching out further into South Yorkshire, attracting participants, workshop collaborators, partners, funders, and venues from all communities and walks of life to be a part of Angry Girls.
If you are interested in partnering with us on our Angry Girls project, please contact carly@wearechol.co.uk. To find out about our upcoming Angry Girls events and activities, please sign up to our Angry Girls newsletter.
