"Are you listening, I'm about to begin"
Tallin Tallin
About Tallin Tallin
Tallin Tallin is a project based in The Gambia, West Africa, that aims to locate and document the rich oral tradition of storytelling, the stories told around African fires at night, the evening entertainment that captures the imaginations of so many adults and children.
Through sound recording, translating, transcribing, illustrating, printing and binding them as books to use as a Gambia-centric rather than western centric teaching aid in every Government-funded primary school in the country; preserving them both digitally, live and in paper form before the generation that knows them passes and they are lost to this rapidly developing country forever.
The aim of this project is to revisit these stories, get younger generations listening to them again, and introduce them into schools, so creating a strong resource that celebrates local heritage and culture, encourages engagement with literacy, and has direct relevance to the people of The Gambia and their culture, landscape and society.
Tallin Tallin: The Process
1. We collected and recorded 43 stories from 28 storytellers, from
8 ethnic groups and in 7 different
languages.
2. We transcribed all 43 stories into english and then selected 30 stories for the Tallin Tallin book.
3.Each of these stories were storyboarded ready for illustrating.
4.Hand printed papers, inspired by African fabric patterns, were made in collaboration with 20 women in The Gambia.
5.Over 500 handmade paper cuts (every character, plant, object and animal) were created from these papers.
6. The paper cuts were scanned into the computer and collaged together digitally to create each illustration.
7.The text was added and then the Tallin Tallin book was ready for the printers. 1000 books were printed...
9. Then shipped to
The Gambia.
8. and our 200-page fully illustrated book was made
Next, we need to distribute the physical and digital book to all 601 government-funded Gambian primary schools (LBS & BCS). In addition, we want to distribute the digital version of the book to all 92 government-funded Gambian secondary schools (UBS).
Host live events in rural locations, to celebrate the stories in their original form and languages...
