every month, we give a grant out to a working class creative whose work we wanna see more of. for may 2026, that’s puppet maker Mahtab Grimshaw funding coming directly from our readers -> this month, readers Lorenzo and Fahad. thanks!!
The 68th grant for working class creatives goes to Mahtab Grimshaw, a British-Iranian puppeteer. We got to see imagery of new work in progress, the images of which looked like something from a dream, or a nightmare. It was pure theatre but with a stillness, and a carefulness, that shows Mahtab’s recent work into puppetry as non-verbal practice. She told us that through her own experience of displacement, she knows how language can become unsafe, or insufficient. Puppetry is a way to express the experiences we hold in our body ‘without the pressure to explain or speak.’ We want to see more of this work and hope the grant can help her create more of these scenes, heavy with all the details words fail.
you can find Mahtab’s website here and see an animation reel below -> -> ->
the grant
this monthly grant is completely reader-funded by you lot. This month’s support is thanks to Lorenzo and Fahad. If you wanna donate to keep the grant going to support more working class creatives, please email us (info [at] the white pube [dot] com). You can find previous grant recipients plus FAQs here