Youmna Chlala and Ken Chen: April 1, 2021

Youmna Chlala presents her book The Paper Camera, an exploration in text and image of her relationship with Beirut. She describes how "the energy of these poems keeps shifting moods" with the changing circumstances, catastrophe and crisis in the city. In the aftermath of the August 4, 2020 Beirut port explosion, Chlala says, "All we can do is look for language that once was, or look for a kind of speculative language that can try to imagine what happens next." Chlala also reads a piece connected to an art project called "The Museum of Future Memories," an ongoing installation work. "How Many Tongues Does it Take to Make a Color" refers to Chlala's installation work made in the Lofoten archipelago, Norway.

Ken Chen addresses the conditions of the online event, due to the pandemic, then reads from his work in progress, Death Star. He tells how his grief over his father's passing, together with his dreams, migrant justice work, and studies in race and colonialism all come together in this story about a descent to the underworld. Chen reads a section called "Locate." For Chen, the project began as poetry and took on elements of memoir, essay, history, and fantasy. He ends by reading a section called "A Prayer for No God, or, a Flag for No Nation."

Youmna Chlala and Ken Chen respond to questions from the audience, via emcee Brent Jensen. Asked about inspiration, Chlala points to the significance of form and genre, which provide multiple ways to explore questions and themes. Chen talks about the challenge he faces in his own work in balancing historical research with poetic practice. Chlala tells of immersion as a way in which one works with tragedy and grief to create; for Chen, creating and peopling an underworld with historical figures and events is another a response to grief. The use of photography in The Paper Camera, for Chlala, is indicative of a desire for nostalgia, and she is interested in how images and text interact with each other in more than representational ways; the camera becomes "a flammable object" that mediates between the artist and the place, past and future. They each also speak briefly on the notion of trauma, observing in their works a kind of movement, alternately towards or away from grief and catastrophe, in imagination and in time.