We’re delighted to spotlight Amy (they/them), who first joined us in June to install our exhibition at Omnibus Theatre. This time, Amy returns as co-creator of Queering the Earth and stage manager for Dysbiosis. Throughout an intensive week of rehearsals at Queens Theatre Hornchurch, Amy will be bringing a wide range of skills to support the team. As a queer interdisciplinary artist and theatremaker deeply engaged in political and community work, Amy already feels like a long-lost member of Dysbiosis.
Tell us about yourself and your creative practice. You’ve worked across stage management, design, facilitation, and live art – how would you describe what drives your work and where your practice is heading?
I am a queer, multidisciplinary creative based in Tower Hamlets. I started out as a theatre designer/maker alongside working in technical theatre working extensively around West End and off-West End productions for over a decade now. In the past 5 years I expanded my practice in co-founding and directing queer arts company Bold Mellon Collective CIC as a creative producer, facilitator and curator of visual and live-art. Since February 2025, I have also been an artist in residence at Firepit Art Gallery and Studios CIC developing my own visual art & curatorial practice. I am especially interested in community-based projects which weave the intersections of the LGBTQIA+ community together and promote wellbeing through the arts. Politically active and socially engaging works drive me to create and currently I feel my practice going through an exciting transformation in blending these worlds and expanding capacity so I am excited to see where it takes me!
You first encountered Dysbiosis as an audience member at the Omnibus Theatre sharing, then co-curated the exhibition, and now you’re joining as stage manager. What has it been like to experience the project from these different perspectives?
I love it! I am a very visual, tactile person so I really have enjoyed getting to know the Dysbiosis world through the artworks in the exhibition. Projecting all the colour, texture and community cohesion into the intimate performance when watching it added another transdisciplinary layer. I’m looking forward to inhabiting the foyer space at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch in September too with more visual art… I very much believe that a performance experience begins the moment you enter the building, not just the stage space. As stage manager I am also looking forward to seeing where the work-in-progress I saw has grown and sprouted new additions, evolved and intertwined mediums further… the collaborative Daedalus approach will be fantastic to be a part of during the production week!
What does ‘dysbiosis’ mean to you personally or creatively?
Resisting the systems and institutional structures that oppress us as queer people and reflecting upon how we, as humans actively create rupture in nature and ecosystems. Creatively it feels politically charged and active in addressing imbalance in society and communities. It also hosts a meaning of multi-media to me, diversity in technique and artistic fusion of topics.
Has curating the exhibition for Dysbiosis at Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch shaped the way you think about the project, or how you approach your role in the team?
Oh absolutely! It’s really refreshing to be able to have such a fluid approach open to influence and adaptability. The vibe of the exhibition reflects that of the team and the project in terms of organic, collaborative creation with wellness at the heart and I intend to step in with that approach also and help hold an environment where everyone feels full and supported.
How do queerness and nature intersect for you in your creative practice?
FLUIDITY!! Nature has such an abundance of creative inventions/solutions and ways of being in packs, in ecosystems, in habitats…. In communities. The care we have in the queer community I have the pleasure of being a part of uplifts and grounds at the most detailed intersections and I carry that, share that and plant it in the projects I engage in.
What excites you most about working collaboratively with artists from different disciplines on this project?
I have never been a fan of the creative industry’s pressure to fit into 1 box and stick to it, so I’m really excited to be surrounded by even more multidisciplinary creatives! Especially those working within disciplines such as using live camera feed, sound and projection where I have less knowledge but much interest to collaborate with and feed into my own practice.
What are you currently excited about creatively – either within Dysbiosis or in your wider work?
I am super excited to see some more audience responses within Dysbiosis. When I saw it first in Clapham I loved how interactive and grounding it was and how invested the audience were in telling the stories within the transdisciplinary world of the show. This multi-layered barrier-breaking approach to arts/performance aligns hugely with my current artistic and curatorial practise in terms of making creative experiences more accessible, inclusive and impactful in imaginative and socially engaged ways.
Could you share a recommendation (book, artwork, music, or anything else) that connects with the themes of Dysbiosis?
‘Acts of Resistance -The Power of Art to Create a Better World’ by Amber Massie-Blomfield was the most recent text that deeply resonated with me. I was drawn to its exploration of art as political activism, written not just as critical analysis but as a personal, creative journey. The conversational and accessible tone carried a clear sense of purpose, asking us to consider why and how we create, and who it matters to. For me, it reaffirmed the importance of resistance in creative practice – of making work that provokes, questions, and meaningfully impacts society.
