Dispersing by floating on the seas to reach far-flung places and root down, the Palm is one among the first migrants of the world.
The leaf of a Talipot Palm, also known as the ‘Shadow Palm’ (Corypha umbraculifera), traditionally used to record sacred texts and other legends that were once orally passed down the generations, now becomes a space to scribe current reality of people, their life stories connected with location, relocation, dislocation – the physical, emotional and psychological shifts – at times subtle and at times tectonic.
Over two evenings some of these stories are retold and shared in informal conversations with people who wish to hear them.
Performance presented at SACRED: Homelands Festival at Toynbee Studios, London, November 2016
Photos: Karla Sachse