Khoj was delighted to host Giving the Feeling a Form, a talk and workshop based on a graphic anthology exploring mental health through a psychosocial lens, created by Monsters of My Mind, a comic book lab. The evening started with authors Mia Jose and Raghav Nanda sharing the process of their comics and how their monsters took shape. They spoke about the importance of the comic medium to relay their lived experiences, unlearnings, and how attaching stories to abstract feelings makes them more digestible. The conversation and audience interaction explored how metaphor, humour, absurdity, imagination, and cultural contexts helped the creators approach and share difficult emotions.

The second half of the event was a writing- and drawing-based Box of Enchantments activity, inspired by Leonora Carrington’s Surrealist Survival Kit. Each audience member received a small booklet with prompts that encouraged them to find their tethers to the world based on the enchantments of courage, joy, adventure, love, and possibility. The grounding exercise resulted in many people sharing heartwarming anecdotes and stories they had not previously considered in a similar manner. The evening ended with food and beverages served at the Khoj Canteen and an invitation for participants to write a short letter on a postcard to the monster that they carry within and to share it with a stranger to take back home.