ABOUT THE TALK - “What Being Lost Helps you Find”
Cities are full of stories. Every nook and corner, every back alley, all the grand buildings and the roadside murals by local artists- they’re full of stories from the community, of the people who live there, and their everyday cumulative lives over time. For immigrants, this is further multiplied. There are stories of the home that was given to us at birth, and a later pursuit of finding home in a completely new setting. We spend decades being lost, navigating through stories of identity, history, and relationships.
Hemu's talk is about unearthing those stories for herself, and the ‘being lost’ she faced before finding what it is that she's been looking for. In the words of Hemalatha, "Being lost isn’t a bad thing for me for it helps me find something I might have otherwise not found. I travel through cities and engage in deep research and art of the space, and listen hard for the stories stuck in brick and mortar. I look for beads of culture mixed in with the wall colours and paint a story for everyone else to come later. I do this until I learn the city, until it becomes familiar, until it becomes home, until I am not lost anymore– until the next journey."
About the topic: Lost
When you’re wading through the unknown, it can feel scary and risky. You float around wondering if you’re going in the right direction and want to know what’s next.
Being lost is a collaboration between possibility and uncertainty. It’s an excuse to get one step closer to a more fulfilling life. What you were comfortable with may not be there anymore, but you will have the remarkable opportunity to reconnect with yourself and embrace discovery. In these “in-between” moments, turn to your inner beacon and pay close attention to where it’s guiding you.
Your beacon is the light that blazes within you, a signal made up of your values, dreams, and priorities. The essayist Anaïs Nin put it best when she wrote: “The unknown was my compass. The unknown was my encyclopedia. The unnamed was my science and progress.” Shine your light. Ask for help and let go of the idea that you have to make a perfect choice. You may feel lost, but you are not alone.
Our Milwaukee chapter chose this month’s exploration of Lost and Melissa Lee Johnson illustrated the theme.When you’re wading through the unknown, it can feel scary and risky. You float around wondering if you’re going in the right direction and want to know what’s next.
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER - Hemalatha Venkatraman
Hemalatha Venkataraman (Hemu) is a transplant from the coastal city of Madras (South India) currently living in Columbus, Ohio.
With a lifelong passion and immersion in art, a background in architecture, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Design Research and Development, she thinks of herself as an observer, social commentator, and storyteller at the intersection of her different faculties.
Her art has a distinct sense of space (both physical and metaphorical) and the tangible to make sense of the intangible. Also a local poet, Hemu frequently brings all these different worlds together into one cohesive story with her writing.
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