A five day visual storytelling workshop Jhelum Fables concluded with an ode to the River Jhelum presented by the participants through 50 photographs and as many stories.
Apart from the picturesque elements of the surroundings,what defined their writings and photographs of the participants who attendedthe workshop on the Roots houseboat situated on the river Jhelum in Srinagarbrought out the spirit of the river by bringing out the relation between peopleand the river.
“A chair and table on a houseboat rooftop where pigeons are eating the grains, women prayinginside the rooms, walkers promenading the bund, silhouettes of shikaras, thethoughtful portraits of shopkeepers situated alongside the embankment, settingsun, moonrise were articulated by the participants as strongvisual grammar in their pondering on themeandering river”, said Dr Tabeenah Anjum Qureshi, the resource person ofthe workshop and a noted journalist of Kashmiri origin who is presently workingin Rajasthan as a journalist with a renowned English daily.
The visual stories conceived by each storyteller is an Odeto the river Jhelum, also known as Vyeth in Kashmiri and Vitasta in Sanskrit.”As the soul of the workshop was imaginations, the participants practicedthis art through their writings and photography.