Visual Narratives: Finding Words Through Images
A Report on the Recent Writing Studio Workshop
19.12.2024
The last RCC Environmental Writing Studio workshop, led by Volkswagen Foundation Visiting Professor Alison Pouliot, took place on 6 December 2024 and was centered on the theme “Visual Narratives: Finding Words Through Images.” Alison is an ecologist, author, and professional environmental photographer and has been working with images and words for over three decades in both academic and nonacademic contexts.
The workshop explored the crossovers and cohabitations of words and images and how the two media might enhance and inspire one another. Participants were invited to find different writing strategies by using images as prompts and inspiration. The session started with a conversation about mushrooms and their ability to visualize moods and feelings. From there, the workshop moved on to using photographs of historical localities, characters, situations, and sounds as prompts for short writing exercises. A photograph of an abandoned hotel room, for example, led to musings about who used to stay in this room on Christmas Eve 1904. But exercises were not centered on photographs alone. Participants were also invited to write about the environment based on sensory prompts—they were touching and smelling branches, needles, berries, and mushrooms, and the like, which had been collected in the park behind the RCC building. Writing about any aspect of nature tends to be easier while experiencing it. Textures can be difficult to describe. Smells are easy to forget.
In the workshop, Alison showed that photography, similar to poetry, relies on the art of reduction. It can convey a point of view or story that goes beyond mere description. Photography can thus be an invaluable source for writing. That is also true for sensory experiences, which can be a particularly good inspiration when writing about the natural world.
There was a particularly high level of interest in the workshop. While it was designed for 15 people, more than 30 people, from students to postdocs, registered for participation. We hope to organize another session with Alison in the future.
Report by Annika Stanitzok
Images by Pauline Kargruber