The Wounds That Keep Us From Being Ourselve

About this event

The Wounds That Keep Us From Being Ourselves

What parts of ourselves did we learn to hide in order to belong?

In this workshop, artist and coach Lester David invites us into a personal exploration of the emotional patterns that can shape how we experience ourselves, our bodies, and our masculinity.

Inspired by Lise Bourbeau’s framework of five childhood emotional wounds — rejection, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, and injustice — the workshop explores the protective masks and patterns we may develop around them, and how these can influence the way we express ourselves and relate to others.

Through a combination of creative writing, reflection and physical exploration, participants are invited to look at memories and inner patterns, while using the body as a space for expression and awareness.

The work moves between thinking and doing: writing and reflecting, moving and sensing, noticing fear and shame, and exploring what happens when we give ourselves permission to express something that is usually held back.

Lester David is a multi-award winner artist (choreography, theatre), music producer, artistic and creative director, coming from Caracas, Venezuela. He graduated from UNEARTE (National Experimental University of Arts), in Caracas, and from SNDO (School for New Dance Development) in Amsterdam. His work explores how art can serve as a healing medium and a space for expanding collective consciousness.

The Wounds That Keep Us From Being Ourselves
📅 22 November 2026
Led by Lester David
Part of the Laboratory for New Masculinities, a free workshop series by Kunstinstituut Melly & Brotherflow.
For men and male-identifying individuals.