Lapdiang Artimai Syiem performs Laitïam

Lapdiang Artimai Syiem’s performance Laitïam is rooted in Khasi oral tradition, and recalls the narrative folk tale of U Sier Lapalang. This story describes a young deer named Lapalang, who, despite his mother's warnings, leaves his home seeking adventure. He climbs from the neighbouring plains into the Khasi Hills only to be captured and killed by hunters. His mother later climbs these hills in search of her son and experiences the same tragic fate. During her death, she lets out a lamentation so powerful that its sound is said to have taught the Khasi people how to mourn and grieve.

The Khasi people are an indigenous group that primarily lives in the Indian state of Meghalaya. Artimai Syiem’s video is set within the landscapes of Meghalaya and its border zones with Bangladesh.

You can also see Lapdiang Artimai Syiem’s videowork based on the same folk tale in Nonnester Tower Base. There the work exists in dialogue with Hans Jacob Meyer’s memorial Mother and Child, and as such evokes different experiences of grief, displacement, and intergenerational knowledge.

Lapdiang Artimai Syiem (b. 1988, Shillong, Meghalaya) is a theatre artist specialising in physical theatre. She received her training from the National School of Drama in New Delhi and the Commedia School in Copenhagen. Khasi folklore and oral narratives inspire her practice, and Lapdiang reinterprets and adapts them for a contemporary context. As a performer, her work draws inspiration from poetry and involves using her body for physical expression. Lapdiang’s productions explore notions of identity, gender, and transcultural relationships. Through explorations of her body, space, and the medium of poetry, Lapdiang’s work continues to challenge the realities around her matrilineal community, which has been influenced by various factors over the years including rat-hole mine incidents, Welsh Missionaries introducing the written script to an oral community, and the rights of Khasi women. Lapdiang lives and works in Meghalaya.