Short Abstract:

This online collage workshop invites participants to reimagine Varosha, a town in ruins embodying the trauma of violent conflict by creating collages with photographic visuals from the town. Participants become part of a creative process that activates stories and transforms the town.

Long Abstract:

This collage workshop is an invitation to become part of a creative process to activate stories embodied by ruins. Participants will be asked to create collages with photographic visuals from Varosha, a resort town in Cyprus that was fenced off, forcing all inhabitants to leave after the inter-communal conflict in 1974. In October 2020, certain parts of the town became accessible to public.

During the online workshop, participants will re-imagine and reconnect the town in ruins with stories and memories by creating collages. Taking on from Svetlana Boym, we will follow an off-modern trajectory where ruins compel us to think about the past that could have taken place and a future that may have eventuated. The town in ruins stands as a witness to the trauma of violent conflict and the interstices that strike through the collages can form a disjunctive temporality to catch a glimpse of how the past intrudes into the present through different forms and stories.

The workshop will last for two hours and will accept a maximum number of 15 participants. Participants can register through the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1phVuh8hxFJ0Nfi4Mw7GYCDpPgVJNXaqXBcW4irg4trY/edit

A week prior to the workshop, all participants will receive photographic visuals from

Varosha. Participants will need to print these visuals and also have an empy collage sheet, scissors, glue stick and newspaper and magazine clippings, threads etc. of their preference for collage making.