During 2008 Rajni ran a series of workshops exploring gifting for an NHS harm reduction service for women who sell sex from the streets of London. This was continuation of the research series small gifts in which Rajni explored the potential role of gifting in opening up new conversations and perspectives in society.
The initial small gifts intervention series took place throughout 2006 and 2007, exploring the role of gift and conversation in public spaces. This research was funded by the Live Art Development Agency through their One to One Bursary scheme, and supported by the Nuffield Theatre in Lancaster, the Colchester Arts Centre and Alternate ROOTS. Continuations of this research included a commission from the Nuffield Theatre in Lancaster in association with Futuresonic, and a commission from The Chelsea Theatre in London. Scroll to the bottom of the page for PDFs related to this research. Watch a slightly random section from small gifts: glasgow here (you need to register and login to this site).
What’s missing – eating, talking, sharing challenge: regaining autonomy in performance training
This workshop was developed out of a desire for community, challenge and peer to peer support specifically amongst mid career solo and independent performance artists. Its aims were to facilitate training for a small group of artists who might come together and create spaces within which to explore different questions around working with the body in performance. The process began with a private blog for four artists - a virtual space in which to share thoughts, questions, images and experiences. After six months of blogging, three of the artists came together in London and each led a day's workshop concluding in a dinner.
Rajni worked with artists Sheila Ghelani, Sally Marie and Kira O'Reilly for this project.