Memory boards - planting memory

I intentionally planted memory for the first time during my Skinner Releasing teacher training in Istanbul in 2016. When overwhelmed with 100 pages of scripts to learn for a pedagogy practicing embodiment, I came to thinking about the relation of memory-practice-place inherent in Aboriginal Songlines or Song Cycles. To replant language back into entanglement with place. I began learning about mnemonic methods and found practical tools in Lynne Kelly's research (author of The Memory Code). Together with Deniz Soyarslan, we planted a Skinner Releasing memory trail by the sea near Tekirova (when our teacher training was interrupted by military coup). It was an intensely grounding experience in the political and social turmoil, to be connecting with the place where we were. This act of planting memory has transformed my relation to the teaching material and continues to enliven a sense of connection with place in the shape of a multi-dimensional embodied map. Planting memory is a kind of deep rooted choreography and something I would like to explore in collaboration with community groups in Fittja. The question of what it is that needs to be remembered and where to plant the memories will unfold as part of the research in collaborative process.

© Julia Adzuki 2019