“Bodies are ridiculed when they have no shoes” *
Saturday clothing and mood repair

Meeting of homeless women and people with a home
9 November 2019 in the community centre Homelike
Audio document

Participants:

Barbora Bírová: reading from the book Bezdomovectví a veřejný prostor (Homelessness and Public Space)
Barbora Bírová is a social anthropologist, counsellor for mitigating homelessness and a co-author of the book.

Rad Bandit and Lenka Vrbová: reading from the book Naděje je na druhém břehu: životy pražských žen bez domova (Hope Is on the Other Bank: The Lives of Homeless Women in Prague)
The author of the book, Rad Banditt, is a social worker, a member of the team and one of the founders of the organisation Homelike. Lenka Vrbová has been working at Homelike for six years. She is mainly involved in its organisation as well as co-organisation of activities for homeless women. When needed, she can even repair a boiler.

Nina Nováková: reading from Iveta Horváthová‘s Pohádky pro dospělé: O králi a královně a bonbónech, po kterých rostou ruce a nohy (Fairy Tales for Adults: About a King and a Queen and Candy that Makes One’s Arms and Legs Grow)
Nina Nováková is one of the women who spends time in the community centre Homelike. She helps with food preparation and cleaning. She loves fashion and talking and often devotes herself to people who visit Homelike. Sometimes she even advises people on fashion trends.

An improvised sewing workshop was available throughout the day, provided by Mia Jadrná and Anna Vácová from the LUV-1 studio, and Kateřina Beránková and Veronika Pavlíková from the Samet project. They resewed unfitting clothes for women in difficult social situations and for the visitors of the event.

Kristina Fingerland led a workshop on collective embroidery and storytelling, during which a joint message was created on the canvas with a needle and a thread.

Together we prepared a potato salad, the music set was provided by Zey from Synth Library Prague and refreshments by Jídelna Kuchařek bez domova (Homeless Cooks’ Kitchen).

PROGRAMME

Reading from and a discussion about the book Bezdomovectví a veřejný prostor (Homelessness and Public Space) with its co-author Barbora Bírová, a social anthropologist and a counsellor for mitigating homelessness

12:00–14:00 Joint cooking and dining with Kuchařky bez domova (Homeless Cooks)

14:00–15:30 A reading and a discussion with Rad Banditt

16:00–18:00 DJ Zey: music set (Synth Library Prague)

18:00–20:00 Pohádky pro dospělé (Fairy Tales for Adults) by Iveta Horváthová

Come and spend the Saturday with us, help each other to fix unfitting clothes, create a joint story on a single piece of fabric with a needle and a thread, share and listen to stories and create new ones, cook together, eat and listen to music, while participating in its creation.

Think together about the topics associated with female homelessness: invisibility, loneliness, violence, corporeality, care, and the limits of normality.

*The title is a quote from the book Naděje je na druhém břehu: životy pražských žen bez domova (Hope Is on the Other Bank: The Lives of Homeless Women in Prague). Author Rad Banditt, published by Jako doma – Homelike o.p.s. and BROKEN BOOKS 2016.