Stories in Transit XIV: The Battle of Ba'al and Yamm, Workshop with the Solitudes Project

A workshop with participants from Hackney Migrant Centre, organised as part of the Solitudes: Past and Present workshop series.

19th March 2022 - performance on Tuesday 5 July 2022

St Mary's Centre, Stoke Newington Church Street

At this three-hour workshop, we worked with an ancient myth of sea and rain, land vs. ocean, as told by Wafa' Tarnowska. Wafa' gave a presentation explaining the history and context of the Phoenician gods, before telling the story of the 'Battle of Ba'al and Yamm'. We then explored parts of the story - adding characteristics, making props and a painted backdrop of sea and land. All this was accompanied by live sound effects and music from participants. Everyone at the end of the session shared what they had created, in a re-telling of the story, performing it with each other. The props and backdrop are going to be exhibited as part of the 'Solitudes: Past and Present' final event of the workshop series, in May 2022.

In July, an exhibition and performance took place to celebrate all the work and creations from the workshop series. It was wonderful being brought back together with participants to hear the poetry and see the other prints and artworks they had made throughout all the different sessions. We re-performed the story (with sound effects and musical interludes, led by Debsey!), the banner we had started to make in March with some added creatures and textures featuring as the central set piece. Participants from Stories in Transit

Sophie Herxheimer - artist, story collector and poet, moving between poetry, painting, drawing and print.

Nathalie Hollis - artist. Nathalie's work is influenced by elements of theatre, dance, performance and film.

Hannah Machover - workshop coordinator of Stories in Transit and artist-maker

Wafa' Tarnowska - children's writer, storyteller and translator

Marina Warner – writer and cultural historian, Professor of English and Creative Writing at Birkbeck College, University of London, Fellow of the British Academy and President-Elect of the Royal Society of Literature

Debsey Wykes is a musician based in London.