Nature Writing conversation: "Bearing Witness" with Alison Armstrong and Cédric Gras

As ecological disasters occur around the world, writers often serve as sources of rich information concerning not only these cataclysmic events, but the human activities and decisions that have led to them. In a conversation between two writers currently enmeshed in projects investigating two different disasters, we explore the motivations, needs, and processes of this sort of writing, as well as its potential impact. In discussing the grave freshwater crisis in Central Asia alongside the devastating erosion of the East Yorkshire coast, Cédric Gras and Alison Armstrong, both residents at the Jan Michalski Foundation in 2024, will examine their roles as writers and documentarians, but also as members of society acting as material witnesses to ecological disasters. In addition to the conversation, there will be screenings of two short documentary films related to the two authors’ work: "Beyond the Glacier", directed by David Rodríguez Muñiz, confronts the crisis in Central Asia, while "East Yorkshire Coastline", from Lawrence Cwerner, offers stunning visual images of the erosion on England’s eastern coastline.

Fondation Jan Michalski, Thursday 13 June 2024