Expanding on the multi-disciplinary ethos of the Aga Khan Centre’s Canticle of the Birds exhibition, this workshop will celebrate multiplicity and a diversity of perspectives, with the creation of a collaboratively translated poem.
This workshop will invite the group to consider the spirit of Farid al-Din Attar’s 12th-century Persian poem The Conference of the Birds, which inspired the Canticle of the Birds exhibition, to create their own new work that incorporates the voices of all the participants, drawing from translations and interpretations of the original text.
The session will play with themes of translation and transformation that emerge when drawing on an artwork from a different medium—or language, or historical period—that still speaks intimately to our present moment of multifaceted struggles.
This workshop will be led by writer and translator Elhum Shakerifar. She is a BAFTA-nominated producer, curator, poet and translator; she runs the London-based company Hakawati (‘storyteller’ in Arabic).
Lovers of words in all languages welcome.
The Poetry Translation Centre is the only UK organisation dedicated to translating and promoting contemporary poetry from Africa, Asia and Latin America. They publish books, organise events and deliver hands-on translation workshops that are open and inclusive to all. They also offer online resources including a dual-language poetry podcast and an extensive web archive of poems in translation.
The Aga Khan Centre in London’s King’s Cross is a place for education, knowledge, cultural exchange and insight into Muslim civilisations. The organisations that are located here work together to bridge the gap in understanding about Muslim cultures and to connect the public to global development issues. The Aga Khan Centre hosts a variety of events, exhibitions and talks that are open to the public.
Canticle of the Birds is a mixed-media exhibition inspired by the Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar, bringing together artists from the UK and beyond with artisans and young people in creative collaboration.
