Other stuff we've done

Fattylympics is the latest in a series of related events. Here are links to them, and some minor explanations, to give you a bit more context.

We have produced these events in collectives and by ourselves. What motivates us is to make playful and accessible spaces in real life that engage with fat and queer sensibilities in various ways. Sometimes it's a bit more than that too. Generally, the things we do are not preachy or dry, we do our best to make things that are full of joy, where everyone is welcome. We like making things that are a bit offbeat too.

The Chubsters
This is a semi-fictitious fat queer girl gang, but you don't have to be fat, queer, a girl, or gang-ish to be a part of it. Since it started in 2003, The Chubsters has become a platform for all kinds of things, from film shows to stonemasonry, handicrafts to songs, jumping-ins and other kinds of weirdness. The website is dated, sorry, but there are now over 100 card-carrying badge wearing Chubsters.

Big Bums
Four of us produced a little zine in 2008 with a small grant from NOLOSE, based in the US, "a vibrant community of fat queers and our allies, with a shared commitment to feminist, anti-oppression ideology and action, seeking to end the oppression of fat people!"

The Fat of the Land
In 2009 a group of us organised a fat queer harvest festival in London. Yes, a harvest festival, possibly the dorkiest kind of event on the calendar. We had performances, Morris Dancers, competitions, games, things to eat and buy, and lots of people came to hang out for the afternoon.

Big Bum Jumble
Kay used money from The Fat of the Land to produce a fat jumble sale. The Big Bum Jumble was an amazing day of rummaging, trying things on, and sheer abundance. We produced an unforgettable fashion show too, and had a sympathetic write-up in The Daily Mail, of all places. The money we raised from the Big Bum Jumble is what's paying for the Fattylympics.

The Bad Art Collective
In 2011 Corinna Tomrley and Becky Sanchez hosted a Bad Art workshop at a wonderful feminist activist conference in York. The event was a lot of fun and, together with Francis Ray White, we decided to form the Bad Art Collective and do more of this sort of thing. Bad Art is all about having a go, bodging your way through, being inexpert, and having a laugh. It's great to make things together, epsecially when they come out looking weird and stoopid.

A Queer and Trans Fat Activist Timeline
This is something that I did by myself in 2010-2011, but it involved a lot of other people. It's a community history project that takes a number of different forms, including a workshop, a timeline object, an archival object, paper and digital zines, an object to talk about, an artist's residency, and an academic paper.

We hope to produce more events in the future, but Fattylympics is our most ambitious endeavour to date. Please support us!