Reflections from a participatory workshop

Reimagining Care: A Creative Workshop in Oxford

On 13 June 2026, over 20 participants gathered at the Museum of Oxford for a two-hour workshop exploring the many dimensions of care—personal, collective, and often overlooked. Guided by artist Deshna Shah and Vincent Straub with help from Mehrunisha Suleman, the session used movement, sound, writing, and object-based reflection to uncover how care shapes our lives, bodies, and communities.

The workshop began with embodied activities: participants shared gestures and sounds associated with care, then reflected on personal memories of giving and receiving care through guided breathing and group discussion.

The core activity, “Care Archaeology Lab”, invited everyone to engage with a diverse array of objects (such as a broken cup, recipe card, or toilet roll) as prompts for drawing, annotation, and storytelling.

Questions explored

Participants were invited to reflect on a range of questions:

Traces, Stories, and Memories

• How has this object been used?
• What story does this object suggest?
• Does it remind you of someone in your own life?

Care and Relationships

• Who cared for whom through this object?
• What type of people tend to care for this object?
• What might it have witnessed?

Hidden Labour and Maintenance

• Who cleaned, repaired, or maintained this object?
• What work made this object possible?
• Whose contribution is not immediately visible?

Absence, Neglect, and Loss

• What care might be absent here?
• What might have been lost?
• Is there a story of neglect alongside the story of care?

Collective Writing and Reflection

After a light lunch, participants wrote letters to the objects that resonated most with them, using their words to create a collective Archaeology of Care, which will be further developed over the coming months by the Stable Gestures team.

The workshop closed with a silent circle of eye contact and gratitude, followed by a final reflection in which participants had the chance to share what they were leaving with.

This was so healing! Thank you for making space for us. (workshop participant)

Archive of Workshop Outputs

Below is an archive of several ephemeral impressions created during the workshop. These outputs can be browsed and explored as traces of the conversations, reflections, drawings, writings, and encounters that emerged during the session.

These materials will feed into the ongoing work of Stable Gestures.

Credits: Deshna Shah, Vincent Straub, Mehrunisha Suleman, Vanessa and Rachel (Museum of Oxford), Sandra (Waste2Taste)