We have a deep thirst, for it is the end of April, and we know that a great heat is coming soon
Celebrating April with Spare Ribs Club
As the last of winter's chill fades away, the world awakens with a gentle stirring. The trees, bare just weeks before, are now adorned in a soft green haze, and the first flowers of the year peek out from under warming earth.
April was one of growth and many firsts. At the start of the month, we held our very first life drawing event. A blissful evening, our life model was the fantastic Meg Foster (@fatmeglifemodel), who told a story of rebirth and rebellion through her poses, switching from dead flowers to colourful, blooming flowers halfway through the evening.
25 members and non-members joined us for two hours of drawing, accompanied by a lecture on feminist art history. In a bid to reclaim the historically contested bodies of women through the medium of life drawing, some incredible drawings were created. We ended the evening with a Q&A with Meg, who gave us some invaluable insights into the world of professional life modelling, as well as her relationship with body neutrality and self-confidence.
Life Drawing will now be a regular occurrence; the next one is on 16th May (tickets available here).
This month, we also organised a trip to Whitechapel Gallery to see two feminist exhibitions. The main exhibition, ‘Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists & Global Abstraction 1940-70’, presented 150 paintings from an overlooked generation of 81 women artists.
Reaching beyond the predominantly white, male painters whose names are synonymous with the abstract expressionist movement, the exhibition celebrated the practices of the numerous international women artists working with gestural abstraction in the aftermath of WW2. Followed up by a coffee nearby, it was a lovely way to spend a few quiet hours on a Sunday.
Up for Discussion: Supper Club by Lara Williams
This month, three meetings were held to discuss Supper Club by Lara Williams, positing the question; ‘if you feed a starving woman, what will she grow into’. In this novel, a group of young women ‘assuage their hunger with liberating feasts that take on a subversive tone’. On a very rainy evening, we held the first gathering. Ushered in from the unseasonal chill and blustery winds of the outside, we cultivated a feast of foods featured in the book. We gorged on macaroni cheese, Gruyère & parmesan cheese twists, pasta puttanesca, Thai red curry, courgettes with feta and mint, mushroom risotto, summer rolls with a hoisin dip, beetroot and goats cheese risotto, pizza, red lentil stew and sourdough with salted butter. Finishing with an array of puddings, macaroons, crepe cake and Eton mess, we felt we’d done the book justice.
Following this was a great discussion debating the myriad of themes present in the book. From the use of an assault scene and arguments around including trigger warnings, to the representation of female rage in literature, to the brilliant depictions of food throughout the novel. We touched on the many different relationships the book’s protagonist has with men, and her friendships, and how this affected our understanding of her character, as well as her presentation of mental health issues and body image. We loved the concept of an underground, angry supper club of women, and felt proud of our own club for channelling similar energy.
Our second meeting of the month, held two days later, saw a group of members (many their first meeting - we hit 165 members in April!) descend on our favourite little bar in Vauxhall, Cable Cafe. Armed with a feast of sweet treats & snacks, we spent the evening discussing Supper Club.
Supper Club: Spare Ribs Supper Club x Louella’s Kitchen
Our third meeting of April was an immersive evening held in collaboration with
; our very first ticketed Supper Club.Guests were welcomed with elderflower spritzes, before being seated at a table laden with flowers, tea lights and hand-drawn menus. For the next few hours, the diners were treated to a literary evening inspired by Supper Club. Courses were punctuated by readings of extracts from the book, tying our discussion to the food.
To begin, ricotta and lemon-stuffed olives, salt and chilli focaccia, whipped feta with spring peas, and a beetroot tartare with seeded crackers. Next, the main event; tart’s spaghetti, gorgeously rich tomatoey oily slick sauce, and griddled courgettes with mint and pistachios. Guests slurped their way through bowls of steaming pasta. To finish, following a final discussion of the book, a chocolate and olive oil mousse topped with coffee crumble.
Stomachs full, we embodied the theme of women taking up space which runs throughout the book; unafraid of being women who eat, talk, who are loud, who fill a room.
Many, many thanks to my partner in crime, Louella, who created the menu and cooked the most delicious food, as well as for letting us use her beautiful flat. A supper club dream team who will now be hosting these evenings bi-monthly; next one on 29th June (keep an eye out for tickets)!
Spare Ribs Club Italy
Our satellite group in Italy also hosted their April meeting. Here are some beautiful words written by member Anna:
Watching the sunset in front of a gigantic pot of homemade mac and cheese, the Italian Spare Ribs’ satellite group gathered to discuss Lara Williams’s Supper Club.
We talked about the complex relationship women have with their deepest desires and the visceral love/hate they feel towards their ever changing body.
It was easy for us to empathise with the protagonist: she’s ordinary and flawed, and keeps outgrowing the rooms she finds herself into. Williams’ novel is a provocation to demand more, a celebration to being ravenous and lonely and feral, a hymn to the terrifying magic of searching yourself.
The human body is but the temporary home of a spiritual being. It’s always the same, and always new, it carries the marks of every day lived.
Nnd if the pain required to fit into the random skin we’re given is what binds us most to the earth, yet:
“It was the closest I’d felt to divine”
Other News and Announcements
I’m very proud to announce that we have successfully won seed funding from the Barbican Centre. This funding will allow the club to expand even further, hosting bigger and better events, as well as networking with other organisations and individuals just as passionate about feminism and social justice as we are.
This project has been awarded as part of the Imagine Fund which is a participatory grant-making scheme supported by the Barbican Centre and the City of London Corporation. Find out more here.
Our podcast, A Seat At The Table, is three episodes down already, with a new one uploaded every Friday. Listen here.
Upcoming Events and Meetings
May
11th & 22nd May | Meetings discussing The Sex Lives of African Women by Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah SPACES FILLED
16th May | Spit & Sawdust SE1 - Feminist Life Drawing Class | Tickets here
23rd May | Spit & Sawdust SE1 - Smutty Letters with @revoltingrosy, an event exploring the lost art of smutty love letter writing | Tickets here
June
Dates TBA | Meetings discussing Brick Lane by Monica Ali
22nd June | Floral Workshop - Details and location TBA
29th June | Supper Club x Louella’s Kitchen - Details and location TBA
Date TBA | Spit & Sawdust SE1 - Feminist Life Drawing Class
Date TBA | Trip to Hampstead Ladies’ Pond
There will be picnics and outdoorsy meetings planned over the Summer, so keep an eye out! If you’d like to collaborate or co-host an event, let me know.