Root & Reflection: Healing Stories Through Shared Collage
The Root & Reflection workshop was held as part of BONGEREH’s ongoing campaign Home Beyond Borders, which explores themes of home, identity, and migration. This campaign grew out of BONGEREH’s earlier work, including our debut exhibition, Between Light & Time that highlighted the voices of immigrants and marginalized artists. The workshop was facilitated by René Eskandari, a London-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice combines paint, clay, fabric, thread, found objects, sound, and digital imagery. Her work is rooted in memory, cultural identity, migration, belonging, and healing, with a focus on emotional expression rather than technical perfection. Collage plays a central role in her artistic process, offering a layered, tactile way to work through personal and collective memory
Structure of the Workshop
The session was designed in three parts, each lasting 10–15 minutes and separated by short breaks for rest and discussion. Participants worked individually and collaboratively, using both two-dimensional and three-dimensional materials, with personal music as an integral part of the process.
Session One: Drawing with the Soundtrack of Memory
Participants were welcomed with name tags and seated around a shared table. They were given paper, markers, crayons, and finger paints, and invited to listen to personal music they had chosen beforehand; songs connected to memories or emotions. With headphones on, they began drawing, guided by the rhythm and feeling of their music. Afterward, a group conversation explored how music can trigger memories and emotional responses, and how this activity related to art therapy practices.
Session Two: Sculpting with Memory
The second stage introduced three-dimensional materials: dried flowers, fabric scraps, yarn, balloons, and other tactile items chosen for their sensory associations. Participants created objects that connected to personal memories, continuing to work with music if they wished. When this segment ended, they shared their works and the stories behind them. Many spoke of migration, belonging, and the idea of “roots”; how they are uprooted, adapted, or replanted in new environments.
Session Three: From Personal to Collective
The final activity involved a collaborative collage. A large sheet of paper was placed at the center of the table, and participants were asked to cut pieces from each other’s artworks and combine them into a shared composition. Although initially hesitant to cut work charged with personal meaning, they began with pieces whose stories they knew. Gradually, fragments came together into a vibrant collective artwork; a visual metaphor for individual experiences merging to form a richer, shared narrative.
Conclusion
Root & Reflection focused on self-connection, memory, and healing through creation, rather than on creating ‘good art.’ Music, tactile materials, and storytelling created an environment where participants could explore personal histories while contributing to a collective expression. From exhibition, to campaign, to this workshop, the path has been consistent: BONGEREH continues to hold space for art, memory, and belonging.