storytelling walks
The landscape is a dominant force in our existence--and by landscape, I mean not only the geographic formation surrounding us but also the societal and cultural forces through which we move.
Streets are the primary force in mediating our urban life. Each building, each corner store, each pothole acts as a marker for unlimited cultural signifiers. This process of deciphering and negotiating the landscape has very real power in building community and shaping us as individuals.
Yet in this rich heritage, contemporary forces are actively working to remove particularity of place and replace “here” with anonymous structures stripped of meaning. Every place begins to look like every other. How can we resist? Through stories.
My storytelling practice is a site-specific experience with the audience: moving around a building or walking down a street, we imagine together possible histories and lives of the specific place and its community. My work is an ongoing examination of “the journey”. I have created site-specific stories in cities as diverse as New Orleans, Paris, Saskatoon and Toronto. I have participated in a variety of festivals and gallery residencies.
These are creative explorations, fictional inventions inspired by factual history, taking you into a story I create especially for a particular neighbourhood. The walks are, by their nature, collaborative experiences. I look forward to walking with you!
Streets are the primary force in mediating our urban life. Each building, each corner store, each pothole acts as a marker for unlimited cultural signifiers. This process of deciphering and negotiating the landscape has very real power in building community and shaping us as individuals.
Yet in this rich heritage, contemporary forces are actively working to remove particularity of place and replace “here” with anonymous structures stripped of meaning. Every place begins to look like every other. How can we resist? Through stories.
My storytelling practice is a site-specific experience with the audience: moving around a building or walking down a street, we imagine together possible histories and lives of the specific place and its community. My work is an ongoing examination of “the journey”. I have created site-specific stories in cities as diverse as New Orleans, Paris, Saskatoon and Toronto. I have participated in a variety of festivals and gallery residencies.
These are creative explorations, fictional inventions inspired by factual history, taking you into a story I create especially for a particular neighbourhood. The walks are, by their nature, collaborative experiences. I look forward to walking with you!
Lisa Pasold is a writer, journalist and TV host of Discovery Channel's 'Next Stop Paris".
Lisa Pasold's first book of poetry, Weave (Frontenac House, 2004) was called “a masterpiece” by Geist Magazine; her second book of poetry, A Bad Year for Journalists (Frontenac House, 2006) was nominated for an Alberta Book Award and turned into a theatre piece the following year. Her debut novel, Rats of Las Vegas, appeared in 2009 (Enfield & Wizenty); The Winnipeg Free Press called the book “as enticing as the lit-up Las Vegas strip.” Her book, Any Bright Horse (Frontenac House, 2012), was nominated for the 2012 Governor General’s Award in Poetry.
Lisa has been thrown off a train in Belarus, been fed the world’s best pigeon pie in Marrakech, taken the Lunatic Line in Kenya, and been cheated in the Venetian gambling halls of Ca’ Vendramin Calergi. She grew up in Montreal, which gave her the jaywalking skills to survive as a journalist. Her features have appeared in publications as diverse as The Globe and Mail, Billboard Magazine, The National Post, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle and New York Living. She has written about France for guidebooks such as Michelin, Fodor’s, and Time Out.
Lisa has been thrown off a train in Belarus, been fed the world’s best pigeon pie in Marrakech, taken the Lunatic Line in Kenya, and been cheated in the Venetian gambling halls of Ca’ Vendramin Calergi. She grew up in Montreal, which gave her the jaywalking skills to survive as a journalist. Her features have appeared in publications as diverse as The Globe and Mail, Billboard Magazine, The National Post, The Chicago Tribune, The San Francisco Chronicle and New York Living. She has written about France for guidebooks such as Michelin, Fodor’s, and Time Out.