Qissa is a story. It is the encapsulation of a community’s history, philosophy, sensibilities, culture, and politics expressed through stories, legends and fables. Qissa is also an escape from this reality. Sitting around a qissa khawan – a storyteller – a community emerged, brought together by the power of narrative, the power of qissa. The word qissa is an expression of the rich culture of South Asia, a culture of storytelling, a culture of oral tradition.
At Qissa we document oral histories of immigrants who have come from different parts of the world and settled in Canada. Together, we explore how these stories travel from one generation to another, from one place to another – stories of connection, stories of rupture, stories untold.
A dervish at the Sufi shrine of Daud Bandagi Kirmani, Punjab, Pakistan. Photo: Rida Arif