Xook K’iin – Ko’olelo’ob, t’aano’ob yéetel lu’umo’ob
Illustration as an Archive: Documenting the Living Amidst Destruction
Workshop
30. May 2026
11.00-14.00
11.00-14.00
Save the Date
for adults
in English
This three-hour workshop explores illustration as a method of resistance through the documentation and archiving of both the living and the destroyed. Drawing on the weekend's panel discussions at Spore on scorched ecologies in Lebanon, Palestine, and Iran, this hands-on session examines how visual artists can bear witness, build counter-narratives, and preserve collective memory in the face of ongoing devastation.
Register here
Led by illustrator Aude Abou Nasr, we will explore:
- How illustration functions as an active archive of the present moment.
- Methods for documenting both destruction and the persistence of life.
- The role of visual testimony in resisting erasure and annihilation.
- How work can hold grief and defiance at once — mourning what is lost while celebrating survival.
- Questions of positionality for visual artists.
Through group exercises, discussion, and visual exploration, we will consider how illustration can become a tool for preserving the ecosystems and communities that are under fire.
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This workshop is designed for illustrators, artists, activists, community organizers, educators, researchers, and open to anyone interested in visual documentation as a form of resistance. No prior illustration experience required.
For registration, please write a brief paragraph describing your background knowledge and how you plan to share the knowledge you have gained to participate@spore-initiative.org.
Title-Illustration by Aude Abou Nasr.
In Her Keeping (2026): A woman holds pottery in the mountains of Lebanon. Created for Maskabeh مسكبة Collective, whose ecofeminist work connects care networks, maps displacement relief, and supports communities through food sovereignty and mutual aid across South Lebanon and Mount Lebanon.
