/ Learning Programs

The Water Diviners 

Jumana Emil Abboud

Water Diviners is a collaborative storytelling and water-lore project that began in 2020 in Paris and developed in the Occupied West Bank Palestinian village of ‘Ein Qiniya, in partnership with Sakiya art/science/agriculture.

Rooted in the immediate rural landscape and oral traditions, the project formed its first group of fifteen participants at Sakiya (2020–2021) who explored water as a vital force—held not only in springs and rivers but also in memory, language, and imagination. Together, they worked to find, preserve, and re-enchant water in its many forms, weaving folktales, lived experiences, and ancestral knowledge into collective stories.

Since then, Water Diviners has travelled to Kassel (DOCUMENTA 15), Dubai, Riyadh, and United Kingdom, adapting to diverse local contexts while maintaining a strong connection to Palestinian water heritage—often endangered by occupation and environmental threats.

Each cycle culminates in a public spoken-word performance, where stories are shared alongside symbolic votive objects and water rituals. These performances are living, open-ended acts of remembrance and care, honoring the ongoing struggle over water, land, and identity.Water Diviners is a flowing archive — carrying water’s stories across borders and generations, resisting erasure and fostering new futures.

Workshop Details

• The workshop is open to up to 15 participants aged 18 and above, though younger participants are also welcome.
• The workshop will be open to Nepali participants based in Kathmandu only.
• No prior experience in art or storytelling is required.
• Each Water Diviners workshop unfolds slowly over a period of 6 days, allowing for a deep and meaningful collective process with a small group engaging with nearby water sources and with one another through a series of creative and reflective practices.
• Participants will walk to water sites including rivers, springs, taps, and wells.
• The workshop facilitates story-sharing across generations, regions, and experiences.
• Participants should be open to collaborative work and sharing personal or community stories.
• Activities include making images, writing and drawing, both individually and collaboratively.
• Participants will make votive objects or amulets from found materials.
• The group will listen to folktales and family memories.
• Participants will reimagine connections to place and water through ritual.
• Participants do not need to have any artistic or literary background, as the most important requirement is a willingness to listen, collaborate, and share—whether through words, gestures, memories, or silence.
• Jumana guides the group through accessible methods of storytelling inspired by oral traditions, regional folklore, and the emotional landscapes of daily life.
• The process allows stories to surface—stories of loss and longing, of place and displacement, of water remembered or missing.
• Participation fee is NPR 8000.

Workshop Outcomes

The stories and offerings developed throughout the cycle culminate in a public spoken-word performance, which is less a final product than a shared moment of expression. These events often incorporate:

• Multiple voices telling a collective story
• Votive objects or embroidered elements made during the workshop
• Water rituals, such as passing water between hands
• Invitations for audience participation and tribute

The performance is intentionally open and evolving — every story shared becomes part of a larger, ongoing narrative that continues to flow into future Water Diviners cycles.

Workshop Timeline

Total Duration: 15 hours (12 hours total sessions + 3 hours rehearsal)
Format: Daily 3-hour sessions over 4 consecutive days + rehearsal

About the Facilitator

Jumana Emil Abboud’s creative practice re-spirits storytelling processes in spoken word, drawing, video, and Water Diviners gatherings – where stories are living entities, entangled in water and relation, connecting place and possibility.

Exhibitions over the last two decades include Cample Line (2023), TAVROS (2022), documenta 15 (2022), the Jerusalem Show (2009, 2018), Darat al Funun – The Khalid Shoman Foundation (2017), Bildmuseet (2017), BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (2016), in addition to the Biennales of Diriyah (2024), Sydney (2022), Venice (2009, 2015), and Sharjah (2005, 2011).

Recognitions include the Jameel Fellowship at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, in collaboration with the International Glass and Visual Arts Research Centre (Cirva), Marseille (2024-2025), and is shortlisted for the Artes Mundi 11 prize (2025-2026).

Abboud is currently completing her PhD at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL.

Application Process

To apply for this workshop, please submit the following via this google form:
https://forms.gle/Fy28V8vaFqR1e1hk7

In the form you will be asked to submit the following: 
– What is a memory of water you would like to share? or What is your water memory? (Please respond to this through writing (maximum 500 words)

Application Deadline: 22nd October, Wednesday, 2025

Cover Photo: The Water Diviners, workshop at Sakiya, ‘Ayn Qiniya, occupied West Bank, 2021, Jumana Emil Abboud.

If you have any questions or concerns, please write to us at mail@photoktm.com or contact Sagar Chhetri at 9808380219 (whatsapp).