Writing workshop with Ona Barbora Šlapšinskaitė

The workshop will invite you to look at your family mythology as a constantly evolving narrative: what is preserved in it, what is kept secret, what experiences are passed down from generation to generation, and how they affect our relationship with the past and our own identity.

Before coming to the workshop, we invite you to think about which of your relatives – deceased, poorly remembered, or never known – you would like to “interview”.

"Conversations with relatives are often difficult, full of miscommunications and personal interpretations, especially if they are from the world of the dead. But maybe it is possible to find common ground with a ghost?"
During the writing workshop, participants are invited to create an imaginary dialogue with a ghostly relative whom they no longer remember or have never known. During the workshop, the video work “Don’t Misunderstand Me, This Is Not a Simple Obsession” will be presented, which uses personal family history and autobiographical motifs to reflect on collective memory and its trajectories of manifestation. While writing Ona and Jonas’ conversations, the author unwittingly touched upon the family myths surrounding the great-grandfather and generational traumas. During the session, the author will share the behind-the-scenes of the work and her creative methods.

And although it is not intended to summon spirits, it is often possible during the writing process to feel that the ghost's words being written are not just your thoughts." — Ona Barbora Šlapšinskaitė

Workshop progress:
30 min. – video viewing, artist's narration and presentation of the assignment;
35 min. – individual writing;
15 min. – reading and discussion of texts in groups;
20 minutes – general sharing and conversation.