Can stories act as agents of resistance and preservation of an emotional ecosystem?

This work is a retelling of a Khasi folk legend - the story of Pahsyntiew. As it is told and remembered, Pahsyntiew was a demi goddess who was drawn out of ka Krem Marai (a granite cave) by a yellow pumpkin flower, u jalyngkteng. These granite caves and rocks, ki Mawsiang dot the landscape of Nongkrem, a small village in Meghalaya. According to the folklore after being lured out of the cave by a man from the Mylliemngap clan, Pahsyntiew is taken to the village where she is made to meet a warrior from the Nongjri clan and with him give birth to a lineage. After giving birth to three children she leaves them to return to ka Krem Marai. Ka Krem Marai continues to exist in Nongkrem next to the headquarters of the Assam Rifles.

Through this performance Lapdiang reimagines that if Pahsyntiew were allowed to articulate her story, would she reject being drawn out of her cave by a pumpkin flower, reject being taken to the village, reject being made to birth a lineage, reject the lineage?

She who would now reject and refuse to accept her story as it is, refusing to be objected or glorified any longer. For Lapdiang, as an artist from a matrilineal community, it is in the retelling and reinterpretation that she looks to challenge and dialogue with how stories are told and retold and the multiple ways in which we can reinvestigate their relevance in our context today.

Seating on first come first serve basis.