foto bali 2026 — workshops & projections evening

Grain & Memory: Analogue Photography as Mindful Storytelling

Workshop Overview

Grain & Memory: Analogue Photography as Mindful Storytelling is a two-day public workshop led by Macy from Worlds Through Minds, exploring the analogue medium as a deeply reflective and intentional approach to narrative-building and long-term projects.

By removing the instant gratification of digital screens, the physical nature of film demands a heightened sense of presence. Through a combination of discussion and guided exercises, participants will be invited to slow down and use analogue photography as a mindful storytelling tool—a way to observe, capture, revisit, and rethink memory, personal experience, and everyday life. Rather than focusing solely on technical outcomes, the workshop encourages participants to see image-making as a meditative practice that creates space for attention, intuition, and a deeper engagement with the stories unfolding around them.

The workshop will also explore how community perspectives can enrich these visual narratives. By sharing observations, memories, and interpretations with one another, participants will learn how collective experience can shape stronger, more layered stories. In this context, mindful storytelling becomes not only an individual act, but also a way to connect with others and reflect on the social, emotional, and cultural textures of daily life. This workshop will include free B&W 35mm film for participants, a chance to win a free 35mm camera, a series of talks, and one-on-one sequencing sessions from projects by photographers in the region.

Aligned with the FOTO Bali Festival 2026 theme AFTERIMAGE, the workshop considers how photographs continue to live beyond the moment they are taken—as traces, memories, questions, and reflections that remain with us over time.