Explore Black American materiality practices and cultural memories in this immersive workshop using Indigo dye and ancestral technology.
Join artist Gianna Hayes at Magenta House for a hands-on afternoon delving into one of the worldβs oldest dyeing traditions. Extracted from plants, Indigo is known as the world's only true-blue natural dye and has been used for thousands of years before synthetic alternatives were invented.
Bring your own textile to dye using hands-on experimental processes accompanied by storytelling and collective reflections on colour, memory and ancestral reverence. Learn the alchemical process of dyeing textiles while engaging with the rich cultural histories connected to indigo across West African, Black American, and global textile traditions.
Discover Indigoβs connection to colonial trade routes, plantation economies, and reflect on the cultural significance of Indigo-dyed denim within African American context, the Civil Rights Movement, and contemporary acts of reclamation through textile practices. This intimate session will be a shared space of experimentation, conversation, and collective-making as we ground ourselves in place, plants, and planetary entanglement. Participants will go home with a complementary Mojo bag for protection as an amulet used in hoodoo / Black southern conjure traditions.
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π©΅ Natural Indigo vat and dye materials
π©΅ Guided instruction and historical/cultural knowledge-sharing
π©΅ Workshop PDF resources
π©΅ Resist materials for creating patterns
π©΅ Protective wear (gloves and apron)
π©΅ Small textile offering for dyeing
π©΅ Access to the Magenta House reading room
π©΅ Home-made refreshments
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π Clothes youβre comfortable to get messy in (youβre welcome to bring a change of clothes)
π Your BYO textile item
π An open heart and experimental attitude :)
No textile-dyeing experience needed; accessible for beginners.
This Magenta House workshop is staged to honour Juneteenth, a recently passed annual Turtle Island federal holiday that commemorates the unjust delayed emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Juneteenth honours not only liberation but acknowledging the enduring legacy of delayed justice and the ongoing pursuit of equality.
For general enquiries, email Mariam at housekeeper@magentahouse.com.au
Notes:
- Spots are limited due to the intimate nature of this event.
- Fees go towards workshop materials, service and facilitation labour, and research prep.
- Tickets are on a sliding scale. Solidarity tix enables us to offset costs so we can provide lower-cost options and free slots for First Nations / Black individuals.
Session Team:
Workshop facilitator/educator: Gianna Christella Hayes
Event organiser/Comms engagement: Mariam Ella Arcilla
Photographer: Adesti Prabowo
Promo images photographer: Flore Vallery-Radot for TAKEAWAY
Bios π£
Gianna Christella Hayes was born in Tongva Land/Los Angeles and currently lives and works across Dharug & Gundungurra Country/Western Sydney and Gadigal Land/Sydney. Their multidisciplinary practice spans textiles, film, and immersive installations, often incorporating soil, seeds, plants, and botanical dyes to explore identity, migration, and the reclamation of ancestral diasporic practices disrupted by colonial powers. Hayes has served as a nature pedagogy educator leading youth in nature play immersions at Greater Sydney Parklands & Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, alongside being the founder of Hilum Earth - a living archive and embodied research lab that takes shape through creative botanical workshops and seed swap initiatives to celebrate the interconnection of plants, people and memories. Hayes's work and workshops have been presented at the Art Gallery of NSW, Powerhouse Museum, Cement Fondue and Runway Journal. In 2025, she was a selected artist for the Altitude Program at the Blue Mountains Cultural Centre.
Instagram: @mirrorseed / @hilum.earth
Banner image: Left/Right: Flore Vallery-Radot; Middle: Maillot; courtesy Gianna Christella Hayes
1pm β 4pm
