The What Does He Need? Poster Workshop brings together a group for a two hour experience, which includes listening to an audio story about a fictional boy from birth to early adulthood, and collectively exploring the boy’s needs through conversation and poster making.
Method
The Poster Workshop works best with a group of six to eight adults or older teens. Each workshop is led by a team of two – one who facilitates the conversation, and one who listens and takes notes toward the creation of new text-based work. The workshop involves listening, writing and facilitated conversation.
Themes
The audio piece that is played in workshop deals with many overlapping themes including empathy, power, the suppression of vulnerability, violence, friendship, mental health, pornography and suicide. The themes in the audio work serve as a prompt for conversation between the participating group. The thematic focus of each workshop depends on the nature of the group and the direction they take the conversation.
Workshop
This two hour workshop will be of interest to anyone who wants to engage in a conversation around masculinity, and explore and reflect upon how men and boys are shaped by and influence the world they live in. The stand-alone nature of the Poster Workshop means it’s an ideal first engagement with the What Does He Need? project.
Photo credits: What Does He Need? Poster Workshop at Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2022. Photos by Louis Haugh and Fiona Whelan.
Support
This workshop was developed by Fiona Whelan and Brokentalkers during a residency at the Irish Museum of Modern Art in 2022.
Drawing by Fiona Whelan