Hop River is a community brewery in  Fort Wayne, Indiana in which creates room within the too-often hustle and isolation of daily life. The bar intentionally calls to Oldenburg's Third Place, offering a not-home and not-work, but purely social gathering. The “Fearless Women's Monthly Meet-Up” at Hop River challenges the traditionally male-dominated beer scene by inviting a feminine reclamation of proud imbibing. I partnered with Hop River to create the Shame Ritual for April's monthly Meet-Up. Continuing the theme of previous Meet-Ups, our goal was to facilitate an ephemeral, organic conversation between strangers about the ways in which shame is created socially, psychologically, and culturally. This conversation would culminate in a writing activity to acknowledge things for which we hold shame, and a ritualistic burning of those shames.

Event photography by Kara Doak