A year or so ago I encountered young people, over and over again, who shared their sadness that by the time they wanted to explore their culture or family history, the story-bearers had gone. And I wanted to do something about it.
I grew up 5000 miles away from my grandparents and the few memories I have are precious. My Nandad, a woodworker and a gardener, gave me my own little garden when I was 3. When I dug up the seeds, which we had planted the previous day, to see how much they had grown, he told me something that has stayed with me all my life since..
“It takes time for good things to grow!”
Following his teaching I am delighted to share some good things that have taken many years to grow. I am about to mount a show of stories from older adults from the different cultures to be found in Los Angeles. The stories in pictures and words (in three languages) were made into posters. They are being displayed in a cafe in Los Angeles where people can drink their coffee, take in the words and images and reflect on the pieces.
Happy to also share this project with a class of Graduate Gerontology students and their professor, George Shannon, at USCDavis School of Gerontology. A slide show, the presence of a couple of the storytellers and the wonderful bi-lingual poet, Tanya Ko Hong are planned.
The answer to the question of how working with images first can help in storytelling is beautifully demonstrated in this poster.
This 80 year old woman couldn’t remember any story at first, so she painted the pictures. Then the words began to flow.
She describes her biggest regret is not to be able to follow the path she wanted to when she was young.
“Now” she says “I can do whatever I want to do when I am painting”
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This fisherman talks about his love for Nature and what we must do to survive. He shares stories of dolphins and golden eagles and how he has been deeply moved by more-than-human-Nature.
There are so many more I would like to share but will end this post with sage advice for us all that ended a story of immigration.
” Don’t give up! Just keep doing and you will get better at it!”
Thank you to the storytellers and everyone who supported this project.
