Eden Szymura is a writer and critical thinker whose work interrogates the relationship between bodies, gender and consciousness as a means for greater connection; her work sits broadly in experimental prose, combining memoir, criticism, stream of consciousness and literary theory.
Cutting her teeth on second wave feminism and Angela Carter’s explosive subversions of sexuality in her 1970s novels, Eden has since moved away from exploring patriarchal discourse on women’s bodies, and towards the internal, socialised, voices and complex physical sensations that sit underneath. She asks how women, people of marginalised genders, speak within and outside, in relation to themselves, to nature, to their cultures.
In 2019 she co-founded arts collective, MEDUSA, with writer Emily Walters to develop an active practice of catalysing conversation, centred on radical care. The pair have built a tight-knit community for cultural criticism and exchange of ideas, embodying Hélène Cixous’ demand that ‘women must write themselves into existence’.
Eden holds a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Durham University, and in the autumn will begin an MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, specialising in New Prose Narratives. She also has four years experience working in both corporate and grassroots social impact and cultural communications, and currently leads Marketing and Communications at Van Gogh House London and San Mei Gallery.
Core research strands include: Jungian and somatic psychoanalysis, Eastern philosophy, Marxist feminism, cultural capital, deep ecology, semiotics and gender performativity.
Ongoing Projects:
Yearning: experimental newsletter / journal
MEDUSA – dissatisfaction: collection of essays exploring the theme of gendered dissatisfaction and declaration
Unuttered folk stories: with multidisciplinary artist James Bailey, currently in research stage
Selected Projects:
2023
[Publication]: Yearning
2022
[Creative Workshop]: Reimagining Futures (Part Two)
[Creative Workshop]: Workshopping the Art Collection
[Lecture / Publication]: Hidden
2021
[Lecture]: Unlikely Icons
[Creative Workshop]: Reimagining Futures (Part One)
2020
[Publication]: Manifesto
[Lecture]: Angela Carter and Myths of Femininity
2019
[Curatorial]: Optica
Contact:
eden.szymura@gmail.com
Eden Szymura 