Led by London-based bilingual non-fiction writer Zixin Li, these workshops offer a distinctive opportunity for participants to delve into and chronicle their personal experiences of migration through the art of storytelling.
The Sunday workshop, conducted in Chinese, aims to empower attendees to craft memoirs that not only illuminate their individual journeys but also contribute to the broader tapestry of migration narratives.
Lasting 3.5 hours, including a congenial afternoon tea break, each workshop is designed to cultivate a supportive environment for nuanced cultural expression, transforming personal memories into artistic reflections, and making space for new voices and perspectives.
Zixin Li's practice delves into projects exploring the diaspora of individuals from Teochew and Shanghai. He is the founder of Sandwichina.com, the first independent platform to promote non-fiction writing in China from 2011 till today, and is currently pursuing an MA in Creative Non-Fiction Writing at the University of East Anglia.
This event is part of esea contemporary's Summer Programme ‘From (Counter-)Archives to Activation.’ Entering the second year of programming following the institute’s transformation, we find it opportune to activate our platform through the lens of archives and counter-archives in collaboration with our extensive network of collaborators and co-workers. Throughout our summer programme, from May to August, 2024, we will actively listen to, engage with, speak out about, write down, touch upon, and look into a diverse array of archival and counter-archival materials. This journey aims to highlight a multiplicity of perspectives while charting a course towards a more outward- and forward-looking framework. As we explore these materials, we remain attuned to the complexities of power dynamics, acknowledging the agency to navigate these exchanges with openness and respect. Through our collaboration with artists, curators, thinkers, scholars, and communities, we seek to foreground pluralistic narratives and empower individuals to shape their own histories.
