The River is Us: A Conversation with Alyen Foning (More than Human episode 1)
Table of Contents
The River is Us: A Conversation with Alyen Foning (More than Human episode 1)
About the episode
In this first episode, Shrishtee Bajpai will be in conversation with Alyen Foning, a Shaman from the Lepcha community in India. She resides in her ancestral home, Kalimpong -the Lepcha community, with its sacred mountains and rivers, at the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas. Inspired by her Lepcha roots and reflections of her life’s journey, Alyen uses her art and storytelling as a medium to help others remember their own ecological connections. Using fabrics, colours, music and design, her work serves as a bridge between the fields of art and research, and between ancestral pasts and future generations.
Through her storytelling we journey through longing, loss and disconnection. Finding our way forward through remembrance we delve into our origins, shamanism and our deep connection and interdependence to nature.
Date and Time
Date: 29th August 2024
Time: 1 pm GMT/ 6:30 pm IST
About the speaker
Alyen Foning is a textile artist who has studied Textile and Apparel design at NID, Ahmedabad. Her works are inspired by Nature and indigenous world cultures. She is the creator of the installation ‘The Story of Munn’,which was exhibited at 'So Many Feminisms!' conclave by Godrej India Culture Lab in collaboration with Zubaan Books in February 2019.
She also runs a design label-ALYEN FONING that believes in the power of Mother Nature, communities, upcycling and the skills of local artisans in narrating stories through Art, Words, Music, Artisanal Creations inspired by Mother Nature, Our Roots, Oral histories and Inner journeys. Her label represents like minded people coming together to create, collaborate, celebrate, empower and to raise awareness about our dwindling natural heritage while joining together in remembering, celebrating and reconnecting to Mother Earth and her biodiversity to honour, preserve and protect her.
She is also a visiting faculty at various design colleges in India.
Leeachum feels deeply for fabrics, colours, collaboration with people, art, crafts, design and music in all forms. She is currently learning about her ancestral roots and shamanism through various research and art projects/grants, and is in a process of starting her training under a shaman of the Lepcha tribe.