How can we consider the weight, presence, form, and durability of something that is fleeting? What is it that slips through the nets cast by writing, photography, and archiving in attempts to record and remember? And how is it that the evanescent, for instance a kolam made to last the span of a day, sometimes lands up in unexpected places like an archival photograph and begins to have a life of its own that exceeds its original design? This workshop on writing the ephemeral would use a series of writing prompts and a selection of archival photographs of the streetscapes of Pondicherry from IFP’s Photo Archive to invite participants to dwell on both the joys and difficulties involved in working with the ephemeral.
This creative writing workshop is open to all. However, spaces are limited. Click here to register.
This workshop could be of particular interest to those who enjoy and/or are seeking spaces for creative writing in a group setting; who would like to read, write, or think about aspects of memory, ritual, archives, and photographs that are fleeting and difficult to capture; and who may be keen to explore some of the ways in which writing and archival photographs can illuminate particular facets of the ephemeral.
Further details about the workshop are as follows:
Date and time: 26 August, 2023 (Saturday); 10.00 a.m.-12.30 p.m.
Venue: Institut Français de Pondichéry (French Institute of Pondicherry), 11, Saint Louis Street, Pondicherry – 605 001
Devarati Chakrabarti is Project Coordinator of this Foundation Project, implemented by India Foundation for the Arts (IFA) under their Archives and Museums programme, in collaboration with the Institut Français de Pondichéry (IFP). This Foundation Project is made possible with support from Tata Trusts, with the corpus interest of an earlier seed grant.