Comfort Object Project

Workshops

These workshops hold spaces for people to reflect upon and share their relationship with a childhood or present time comfort object. Newer workshops are continuously being developed based on the feedback and response from the last workshop.

I am grateful for any opportunity to explore these workshops with new communities and groups of friends. If you are interested in me hosting this free workshop for your arts community or circle of friends, you can contact me via tanto.jessica(@)gmail.com, and we can arrange the workshop together from there!

Requirements: Group should consist of a minimum of 5 participants. I can only host the workshop in Bahasa Indonesia or English. It can be an online or offline workshop (at your space). The workshop will be free*. I will be using parts of the discussions and results of the workshops to further develop my project. I will ask for your consent again to collect the data anonymously during the workshop.

*For an offline workshop, there will be a small fee to cover my transportation costs to and from your offline space (not applicable for online workshop). 

Dresscode: Comfy sleep clothes/pyjamas!

Materials to bring: Writing materials + Your childhood and/or current comfort object (optional)

Description: Comfort Object Project is my latest workshop which prompted people to reflect and discuss their modes of obtaining comfort as a child versus now as a young adult. It stemmed from my curious questions as a 21-year-old who maintains a relationship with a childhood comfort object.

Rundown:

Activity 1. Recalling my childhood object: The session begins with a visualization exercise to help people remember the details of their childhood comfort object and embody the feeling it brought them as a child. Participants then share what they imagined and describe the feeling of ‘comfort’ it gave them.

Activity 2. How do I achieve comfort now?: We will discuss how we obtain comfort nowadays and compare it to our childhood method and feeling of comfort.

Activity 3. Writing a letter to our childhood comfort object: Lastly, we will write a letter individually to our childhood comfort object. This letter does not need to be textual. It can be anything that the participants wish to express using a pen/pencil and paper.

Workshop Impact: The discussions made me realize the diverse feeling of ‘comfort’ and various modes of achieving it. The participants expressed that this workshop helped them regain the experience and sense of comfort they had forgotten.

Results from the workshop

cоска (pronounced ‘soska’)

soothing cоска

i miss your easy bite

i miss you late at night

i haven’t seen you in years

but still i know your colours

blue and yellow and red

i chew you before bed

and wake up in the day

to suck the day away

my grandma tells me off

says soon i’ll get too old

for having things between

my growing teeth and gums

for having you hang out my lips

i’ll miss your easy bite

i’ll miss you late at night

but my age will betray my love

i will be above

the simpleness you bring

the comfort amongst everything

BY JESS NIKITINA-LI

2. Slumber Party!

Location: Participants are expected to join the event (or at least the second part of the experience) from their bed

Dresscode: Comfy sleep clothes/pyjamas!

Materials to bring: Any items you usually use to have a safe and comfortable sleep

Description: We spend about one-third of our life sleeping. Although we sleep (hopefully) every day, we often perform our pre-sleep habits on auto-pilot without awareness of how it contributes to our sleep. 

This workshop invites its participants to examine aspects of their pre-sleep habits in two parts. First, we will discuss an object that provides us physical and emotional comfort to sleep. Afterwards, Jessica will facilitate an experimental guided meditation session to bring awareness to our body’s sensory and emotional connection to the sleeping props* used. 

*Sleeping props: objects that an individual typically uses to go to sleep like a bed, mat, sleeping bag, pillow, bolster, blanket, 

At Tributary Projects

At Way Over There Collective