I am delighted to be presenting this experiential workshop at TLAN’s 2024 Power of Words Conference. Registration for the Power of Words conference is now open, come join me there!

We activate the tangible objects in our archives when we tell their story. From telling the history behind a single photo or heirloom to juxtaposing generational recurrences in nonlinear formats, this workshop will demonstrate how we can create new meaning in our family stories by engaging deeply with the things we and our ancestors have saved. Bringing family heirlooms is not required. Participants can bring digital photos, memories, or work with objects in the room. This workshop is intended to open up what family archiving can look like, specifically drawing on the strengths of Transformative Language Artists to be both introspective and to play with writing forms. I will use techniques of autoethnography, expressive writing, and collage to help participants find new ways into their family archives, explore their own relationship to the tangible past, and reflect upon what their archive means to the present and future generations. 

We will start with analyzing single objects and look at how complex stories can be told through embodied writing and deep questioning. We will then move onto exploring the participants’ role in telling the story - who they are and how they relate to their archive. Finally, we will look briefly at ways to juxtapose stories and objects to tell fuller and personally meaningful narratives.

This workshop is designed for the family historian who is stuck, overwhelmed or wants a new direction in how to present their family archive. It is my hope that the participants leave invigorated and excited to start small and go deep with their own family stories. I also hope that participants begin to consider their own relationships as non-omniscient narrators in their family stories and their family’s role in a larger cultural context.