Digital Theatre
Ngan Hiar Sha Wah (I’m going down to the River)

By Lapdiang A. Syiem

Monday, 9 August, 18:00 – Friday, 13 August 2021, 20:00
6:00 PM IST Online New Delhi

Prior registration required. Write to Nidhi.Kol@goethe.de to register.

Link to the event: www.nganhiarshawah.com

Duration: Approximately 60 mins
Language: Bilingual - English and Khasi (subtitles in English)
Viewing Disclaimer: Semi-nude upper back, painted
 
This project has been conceptualised using elements of digital storytelling to unfold the narrative of a heavily polluted river, ka Wah Umkhrah and its dying tributaries flowing through the city of Shillong in Meghalaya. Coming from a tradition and culture of orality we look at how stories can and in this case of an ecologically threatened water body, be told today, to nudge us inhabitants of the city to pay heed to the abuse and degradation it has been subjected to. Through the performance of memory using poetry, words, sounds and musical compositions including ki phawar and connecting these to visual expression, we have compiled a series of chapters taking the audience on a journey of the past, the blurred lines of memory, the present and the liminal spaces of lost narratives. How can we preserve these disintegrating memories in the world of the digital where memory can always be expanded to a premium package?

As we try to make sense of how the pandemic has affected our lives currently, the digital medium has become a space that we are forced to interact with in almost every aspect of our lives. With this project we have been able to use this platform to challenge ourselves to look beyond the literal and the perfect and instead to place ourselves as close to the spirit of the river as possible and capture what we encounter with the imperfections of documentation. But then what of the spaces we can no longer capture? As artists are we only framing the realities we exist in?

The team: Lapdiang A. Syiem, Juban Lamar, Abigail Nongsiej, Apkyrmenskhem Tangsong, Esther Syiem, Baston Singh Lyngdoh and a community of people who have shared with us their connection to the Umkhrah and its tributaries.