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maltatoday SUNDAY 29 OCTOBER 2017 31 This Week sin 'Dik il-Qtajra' & 'Babies' Series of works on paper by Gabriel Buttigieg will be on display at Iniala5, Mosta from November 22 to December 9 To book a place for the 'Of Fairy Tales and You' workshop, log on to: http://www.kreattivita.org/of- fairy-tales-and-you-form/. And to find out more about Lingin Stories, log on to: www.ligninstories.com Fighting fear through storytelling TEODOR RELJIC speaks to Giuliana Fenech about 'Of Fairy Tales and You' – an upcoming workshop for kids forming part of this year's edition of Żigużajg, and part of Fenech's wider initiative, Lignin Stories, which attempts to harness the eternal power of traditional storytelling while adapting it to contemporary realities First off, how would you describe the 'function' of fairy tales in today's context? And is the pedagogical or didactic dimension of fairy tales the most interesting aspect of them for you, at least for the purposes of this event? Fairy tales have been present in literature and popular culture for hundreds of years. Their setting in a faraway land and time is appealing because it allows us to project our desires and fears onto a landscape that we only partly recognise. Over the years, and through the various retellings and adaptations, the tales have morphed to re- flect changing cultural con- structions of childhood and in contemporary culture they are a good reminder of how powerful magic, hope, and courage are. In this workshop for children, we return to the fairy tales of Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, An- dersen, and Wilde for inspiration. They provide a blend of famili- arity and strange- ness that allows children to relate to the stories but also leaves them free to create their own version. Rather than turning to the tales for pedagogic or didactic purposes, we use them to ignite the imagination, empowering children to see themselves as storytellers and storytelling as a way of connecting with others. Which aspects of the fairy tale 'genre' do you hope to make use of during the workshops, and how do you think they would be beneficial for the young participants? Many children are familiar with the cinematic versions of the tales, for example Walt Disney's adaptations, but during this workshop they get to know the original stories, which are more poignant. Andersen's little m a t c h girl who freezes to death outside a stately home, Wilde's self- ish giant who u n d e r s t a n d s loneliness and giving too late, and the won- derful musician and his encounter with the wolf in the Brothers Grimm tale are among the characters we work with. Each child is left free to associate and work with any charac- ter from the stories and to explore what would happen if the character made different choices. Using vari- ous storytelling techniques, they tell and retell the stories to one another until they feel ready to share them with their families and the broader community. How will the event be structured, and why did you go for this structure in particular? 'Of Fairy Tales and You', endorsed by the Scottish Storytelling Centre and the Centro Storytelling Italiano, is part of the Żigużajg and Spazju Kreattiv programme. I wanted the children to have the opportunity to experience an intensive workshop, to really dive deep into the material and have the time it takes to build confidence before speaking and sto- rytelling in public. An open call will see a group of 12 participants, aged 8+, joining. We will meet in the af- ternoon of November 3, all day on November 4 and in the morning of November 5. Throughout this time, we will workshop various storytell- ing skills that also help public speak- ing, creative writing, and general self-confidence. Each participant will then workshop one story to tell to an audience during the Żigużajg festival, at the Auberge de Castille vaults. Finally, how would you say this event fits into the overall 'mission' of Lignin Stories, and what's next in the pipeline for Lignin after this event? Lignin Stories is a storytelling plat- form for people of all ages, nations, and beliefs. The founding ethos is to create a space for paying it for- ward, sharing personal experiences, knowledge, and resources in order to foster connection, inspiration and soulful change, unbinding the unre- alised potential in every person and every moment. Storytellers know that when peo- ple come together in a circle, each equal and valued, they are able to connect and inspire one another. In traditional societies this circle, often formed around a fire, symbolised cultural heritage and belonging. It allowed the young to draw upon the wisdom of the elders and the el- ders to lean upon the strength of the young. Each person, harnessing the energy of the circle, is able to grow and like the oak tree, draws suste- nance from the Earth to stretch up to the sky, overcoming personal lim- itations and fears. In 'Of Fairy Tales and You', children experience a sto- rytelling circle, discover that they are worthy, and that what they have to say matters. Over the coming months, Lignin Stories will be running a series of workshops for children and adults and will be collaborating with vari- ous organisations in community sto- rytelling projects. Ongoing between October 2017 – June 2018, 'Parallel Universe' is our Culture Pass sto- rytelling programme, designed for schools in collaboration with Es- plora and the Malta Arts Council. 'Points of Contact' is the next adult storytelling workshop, organised in collaboration with FPM and the Vic- tor Pasmore Gallery, taking place in December 2017 and again at vari- ous points in 2018. A research pro- ject titled 'Widnet il-Bahar' will be launched in spring 2018. Illustration by Charles Vess for Neil Gaiman's Stardust – a modern fairy tale retelling which proves the idiom's ongoing power and relevance 'Of Fairy Tales and You' at the Centro Storytelling Italiano, Portico di Romagna Giuliana Fenech: "Storytellers know that when people come together in a circle, each equal and valued, they are able to connect and inspire one another". Photo by Nadia Zammit Verbeken images did you find interesting enough to adapt into the visual medium? My works have always had a strong psychological element. If a subject leaves me cold, I'm not interested in inter- preting it. As for this exhibi- tion, it was interesting to fuse my mind with my father's in expressing our attitudes to- wards human nature. Some of the works are in colour, many are monochrome. They give a taste of the book and convey the ideas at its heart – that we have no say in who our parents are, yet the genes they pass on to us determine us completely. Our personality is forged the very moment we are con- ceived, and it is forged to be self-centred. Babies, children, though of course innocent in the sense that they are pre- moral, need to survive and therefore instinctively put themselves first, before their parents. I know it sounds pessimistic, but that's how I see it, and that's the por- trait of humanity that Dik il- Qtajra paints. The man and the woman are consumed by their lust, while the child, as I depict it, is fantasising about satisfying its own sexual needs when it is older. The way I see it, everything boils down to sex and the need to survive. Honesty and instinct are cru- cial elements in my work. They make it what it is and give it immediacy. That's why I had a problem with the University of Malta, be- cause their intention seemed to be to use art for intellec- tual ends, for artists to make some intellectual statement and display how au fait they are with the latest develop- ments in aesthetic theory and philosophy. What I want to do is blast the canvas apart. I want to trigger memory, hun- ger, passion, things all human beings understand. Do you envision more col- laborations with your father in the future? Yes, we will be collaborating in the future. We'll be work- ing on a new edition of Dik il- Qtajra which will be entirely illustrated by me. I've just illustrated the front cover of my father's collected plays in English (translated from Maltese) which will be pub- lished shortly and launched in December. I also intend to make a set of prints for Dik il-Qtajra and illustrate it page by page. I believe in his work and in the importance of the themes he has explored all throughout his life.