We have built a bespoke rest space in our studio's The Nests which is available to both studio holders and visitors alike.

The Rest Nest is a boldly visible space for disabled, chronically ill and neuro divergent folks to rest whilst using the artists studios or attending an event. For people to be able to stay in community whilst having their access needs met. People can take time to rest, regulate and recharge without the need to leave the party, abandon work or get the Fear of Missing Out that disabled people so often experience. Also, I’m done with having to lie on the floor in public buildings. Enough. 

There are heaters and fans for people with temperature sensitivity, earplugs to block out the noise, curtains for privacy and a little space to put your shoes. 

 

Inspired by the colour scheme of Frida Kahlo's garden, the Rest Nest pays homage to the queer, disabled and chronically ill artists that have gone before us. The much overlooked, chronically ill Pre Raphaelite artist Elisabeth Siddal, Queer illustrator Aubrey Beardsley who had a life limiting illness, and of course the iconic Frida watch over us as we rest. The horrors persist but so do we.  

 

We hope that this space will inspire other venues and organisations to create similar spaces because rest is resistance. 

 

“Rest is radical because it disrupts the lie that we are not doing enough. It shouts: “No, that is a lie. I am enough. I am worthy now and always because I am here”. The Rest is Resistance movement is a connection and a path back to our true nature. We are stripped down to who we really were before the terror of capitalism and white supremacy. We are enough. We are divine. Our bodies don’t belong to these toxic systems. We know better. Our Spirits know better. The legacy of exhaustion stops with me.”

Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey

 

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