An opportunity to explore ‘Decolonizing Women’s Spirituality’ will take place as a mini retreat at Lancaster Priory next month.

On June 11 from 11am to 3pm, leading LGBTQ+ theologian and artist, the Rev Dr Angela Yarber, will lead the retreat, which includes a presentation, discussion, guided drawing process, ritual, embodied exercises, guided reflections, and a Q and A session.

This retreat, supported by Lancaster University’s ‘Decolonising Lancaster’ Events Fund, will see the launch of Dr Yarber’s ‘Queering the Dream’ exhibition, also at Lancaster Priory, which runs from June 11 to 21, and which celebrates women of colour from history and myth.

After Dr Yarber’s presentation, ‘Decolonizing Women’s Spirituality’, there will be a discussion following which participants will join in Dr Yarber’s ‘Intentional Drawing Process’.

Participants will be given the opportunity to create their own icon of a woman of colour who inspired them in conversation with Dr Yarber and one another. They will create their own art as a place to speak, thrive, and live differently than merely within #whitewomensspirituality.

Lead organiser, Dr Azelina Flint, from the University’s Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, said: “We are delighted that Angela Yarber will lead this retreat at Lancaster. She is at the vanguard of decolonising sacred art and will support us in fostering inclusive worship spaces within both the university’s, and the city’s, faith communities.”

Please click here to register: Decolonizing Women's Spirituality Tickets, Sat 11 Jun 2022 at 11:00 | Eventbrite Admission is £5.98 (all profits donated to the non-profit Tehom Center). Lunch and Refreshments included.

The Priory events are sponsored by Lancaster University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences ‘Decolonising Lancaster’ Events Fund and the Lancaster Friends.

Dr Yarber, who lives in Florida, is the Founder and Executive Director of the Tehom Center in Hawaii, a non-profit teaching organisation that offers courses on revolutionary women in history to women from low-participation backgrounds. She is travelling from the US for the event.

Her recent book, Queering the American Dream,was featured in Forbes.

An ordained clergywoman, she holds a PhD in Art and Religion and has been both a Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as a Professor at multiple divinity schools.

The Priory event is part of a series of events organised by Lancaster University which celebrates the political, literary, artistic, spiritual and reformist achievements of women of colour, especially those who are affiliated with other marginalized communities, such as disabled people, or LGBTQ+ communities.

The series begins with a hybrid interdisciplinary symposium, "Bearing Untold Stories", on the lives and works of forgotten women (31st May - 1st June).

You can find out more here: Decolonising Women's Studies | Lancaster University