You are warmly invited to join our festival reception to celebrate twenty years of COHDS with friends old and new. There will be good food and company on offer. You will also be treated to two artist talks and the inaugural public performance by the COHDS choir.

Nasim Mogharab and Shahrzad Arshadi will reflect on “The Soul of the Soul (Ruh Al-Ruh),” a quilt making and storytelling collective that started in November 2023 in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal—one month after Israel’s attack on Gaza—by women feminists and social justice activists, all originally from the SWANA region. (The moving tapestry of individual quilts will be exhibited at 4th Space for the duration of the COHDS Storytelling Festival.)

Visual artist Mona Sharma will introduce us to her graphic memoir, capturing her family’s experiences with autism. As Mona reflects: “It was a weird irony of life that someone who talks as much as I do gave birth to two sons who are non-verbal. The experience has been incredible, and I am putting the story down in the best way I know how.” Professor Shira Avni (Film Animation, Concordia), a scholar of neurodiversity, motherhood, inclusion, and social justice, will participate in the talk.

The evening will conclude with a performance of the COHDS choir “Sounds of Home, Sounds of Elsewheres,” a community choir project led by Sara Lucas that was open to all COHDS affiliates who desired to sing together. The choir’s repertoire explored storytelling through song, focusing on how personal and community histories are shared and passed down.

Festival Reception

Festival Reception

Event Info

Hosted By:

Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling

Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling

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