Join Sculpture in the City artist Maya Rose Edwards for a free cocktail & creative workshop to celebrate Pride month.

Reflecting on participatory sculpture ‘Kissing Gate’ currently sited at Aldgate Square as part of Sculpture in the City’s 13th edition, as a space of romantic exchange between strangers, join artist Maya Rose Edwards in a creative workshop which invites participants to reflect on traditions and the role of everyday rituals in public space.

In this free workshop, participants will sip on a complimentary themed cocktail as you are guided by Maya to create your own folded puzzle purse, an intricate and anonymous paper message. Highly decorate with covert messages of affection, these purses also contain a small token of devotion for a loved one, often in the forms of an inscribed coin.

Participants will receive a copper coin and the tools to stamp a word or initial into its surface as per the tradition. This token will be hidden inside the puzzle purse. If not gifted to a loved one, we encourage you to offer your love tokens back to the city as a romantic gesture to an unbeknownst stranger. Prompting an unexpected connection and reignition of tradition of exchange between people and place.

• Date & Time: Fri 6 June 2025, 5.30pm-7.30pm
• Make sure to visit Maya’s sculpture ‘Kissing Gate’ and snap a photo, on Aldgate Square ahead of the event.
• Duration: 120 minutes.
• Booking:
• Location: Private Dining Room, Fazenda, 100 Bishopsgate, EC2M 1GT.

Key Information:

• Complimentary alcoholic or non-alcoholic cocktails will be served.
• This event is for 18 + only.
• Make sure to visit Maya’s sculpture ‘Kissing Gate’ and snap a photo, on Aldgate Square ahead of the event.
• On arrival, please inform the main desk that you are here for ‘Cocktail & Create’ where you will be directed to the event space.
• Photography will be taking place at this event. Should you not wish to be snapped, please inform a member of the team during the event.

Should you have any questions, or access needs you would like to share with the team, please email alice@lacuna-projects.com   

Sculpture in the City’s Cocktail & Create is kindly supported by activation partner Eastern City and curated & produced by LACUNA.

Bios:

Maya Rose Edwards (b.1999) is an artist from North Yorkshire working across conceptual sculpture, public space, and participatory practice. They work with hunter-gatherer tactics, to compose new narratives of seemingly familiar spaces through the forms of intervention and interaction. They have exhibited at over 15 locations across the UK and created several permanent site-specific works in Scotland. They are the recipient of the RSA New Contemporaries Selection (2023) for which they received the Chalmers Award, Artist in residence at Mount Stuart (2022-3), Creative Scotland Youth Arts Bursary (2022), and The Steven Palmer Travel Bursary (2023). Their work has been featured in Trebuchet Magazine, The Times Newspaper, and ITV News.

mayaroseedwards.com