Warm Bodies, Shared Air
London Conference in Critical Thought
Birkbeck, University of London | June 2025

As part of my organisation of the 2025 London Conference in Critical Thought, I curated the stream Interweaving Embodied Practice and Critical Theory in Transnational Feminisms, which invited critical and creative practitioners to explore how embodied methodologies might unsettle dominant narratives of trauma, silence, and historical inheritance.

Grounded in Luce Irigaray’s concept of “shared air,” the stream engaged breath, affect, and memory as vital mediums through which feminist, decolonial, and transnational inquiries could be enacted. It drew on thinkers such as Sara Ahmed, Achille Mbembe, adrienne maree brown, Ashon Crawley, and Fred Moten to examine how the body might become a site of pedagogical encounter and relational knowledge.

As part of this stream, I invited artist and somatic practitioner Rhona Eve Clews to facilitate Warm Bodies: An Embodied Exploration of Shared Air—a breath-led workshop integrating ecofeminist methodologies, poetic gesture, and somatic movement. Together, we closed the session with an embodied dialogue, holding space for co-witnessing, soft reflection, and shared presence. This practice of staying with, and breathing through, difficult affective terrains extended the stream’s commitment to attuning theory with lived experience; opening an atmosphere where knowledge could be felt, moved, and held collectively.