an individual who is dubious about the role she should play in the society

barb babul

half a gram

familiar

Seen this before? Somewhere yes.

But I made it. By touch.

And is everyone's touch almost the same.

Unless they have an eye?

Touch here to play~

the aesthetic of white on white

grows over time

with shadows and dust

rituals for everyday

Given the number of festivals and holy occasions, an enthusiastic Indian wife can stay busy everyday.

Every occasion calls for a different process, starting with a special shopping list for every god. Every god has his likes and dislikes; the pundits will tell you. Errors are overlooked, as long as you have shraddha (faith).
Like Oriflame or Tupperware, the rituals of India, can keep one involved, and entertained even.

welcome, cellulose and proteins

the mound of the dead

4000 years old and less than half a kilometer in radius; how could the Lower Town of Lothal be as small as a four bedroom bungalow?

unwire

Films play on the fact that humans like to watch the lives of other people. They are engrossed and affected, but aware, and glad even sometimes that this is someone else's life? At the oscars, dramas win over the documentaries.
Like the diseases of the rich countries (obesity etc), there shall come the diseases of information technology.
A bit harsh, but is for real.

एक बार जो struggle करता है ना, उसको फिर अादत हो जाती है।

~ said the one with the knowledge of two vedas

erode

Employment swapping empowerment

A woman working as a cab driver is more empowered than a housewife.

Never mind that ten years later, after much economic independence, she'd feel just as jaded as the corporate girl heading towards her 9-9 job.

Money brings respect. Which in turn gives you decision making powers.

It is never the money that brings in respect, but the realisation that she too can fend for herself.

The hullaboo about women and their rights is simply self obsessed, and a fight in which one forgets what they are fighting for. If women have been able to shine, it isn't inspite of the men, but because of them too. Men are a part of her context, much like her childhood, her town, her books. (Like man and environment are not two separate things; man is a part of the environment.)

It is about an individual, beyond the gender specific biases.

Employment is empowerment through financial independence. Independence of the individual can be fostered in many other ways, starting from one's childhood. When a boy and girl are brought up the same way, driving a cab in Bombay will not be a dream at all!

makers are not buyers

Crafts exist where 'physicality' is of importance. In the developing/under developed world, among the currency poor ruralites, who cherish the basic and fulfilling things they have. They are grateful for the food they eat, and wish to eat it in all it's beauty. They have the time for labour. They make their own bedcovers; to buy from someone else is a disgrace!

In quotes, Subhash Chandra: We are creative people, we create ourselves. We do not go and buy created things.

(And this, I believe, is a maker's dilemma: How do you sell, when you hate to buy?)

'Craft is not mere manual dexterity. It is the cultivation of the mind. Serviceability and aesthetics are not two different ends.

Craft is not divorced from a degree of mechanisation, because from earliest times man started evolving tools as an extension of his being and did not rest content with he unaided skill of his body.

Crafts is man's endeavor to bring grace and elegance into an otherwise harsh and drab human existence. Something beyond the satisfaction of mere needs and creature comforts.'

- Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay

In the developed world, 'where the mind is' is of importance. Among the currency rich who can buy all that they cherish, in no time and with no labour. Buy, buy, buy.

Where then lies the future of the crafts; forever with the currency poor?

In India, I have not seen a rich goldsmith, but have seen plenty rich jewelry stores. Why is that?

The image below is the perfect visual for the words above, disturbingly.

The maker and the buyer.

The currency poor and the currency rich.

The dark and the fair.

The lively and the expressionless.

The colourful and the bland.
The traditional and the contemporary.

The hands and the face.

The low and the high.

of people and stars

another post getting published after 10 months of its inception:

Time to turn the critical eye on, to see the undercurrent, not the prettiness alone!

Two of my favorite places- People Tree and Tara Books , could never have been more of opposites. And to think that it dawned on me years later!

The following views are a personal interrogation and impressions formed on me naturally over a period of time. Our country is much richer (visually) by the enterprise of both, and I do not wish to demean any of them. But I do lean a lot more towards one of them, after my realisation of what sets them apart.

A friend of mine wanted to intern with People Tree. She went to meet them and they said that they were not hiring. She got the impression that it is very hard to get hired by them. She herself had a glorious academic background from a fashion and design school. I too was lost as to why.

To intern with Tara, you have to submit an application, and they are always booked a year in advance. Their last intern was a student from abroad.

** Tara Books 

## People Tree 

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of them

** The foreign factor, from book festivals to collaborations. Hand made story books.

## Indi-pop artists like the Indian ocean, t-shirts with poetry and faces.

Who works with them

** The intellectuals- writers and poets, traditional artists, students.

## Those who want to work in art and craft, without any prior knowledge of the same. Curious youngsters from anywhere, grow up and grow along.

Identity

** Bhajju Shyam, traditional Gond artists. He has defined the way Tara books look. Although later, Tara collaborated with Patua artists of West Bengal, and now with even other folk artists. The Gond art, albeit a new one, is the face of contemporary tribal art in India, and Tara makes a strong connect with this very modern character; successfully bringing out a contemporary style from the other folk arts too.

## People make it's core. People make what they identify themselves with. A lot of fabrics have the visual of a 'face' on them, in a hand-painted style (because they are derived from it). A 'face' is, I think, the first form one draws, as it is a direct imagery of communicating one's self.

Brand imagery, as seen on the internet

** Intellectuals gathered in a room, making a book launch, with the tribal artist given much applaude. But he is not one of them. Foreigners visiting their production unit. Their USP being 'handmade' of course by local Tamilians, and the exceptional Mr A. Mostly written by foreigners, painted by tribal artists, and produced by localites.

## People of all kinds, with enthusiasm and action. 

of stars

of people

old work - found as a draft post ~ alphabeater

A strategic word building game for children of age group 10+
This was a secret project in a way, during our Masters course. But our game up there, never got launched in the market. So I launch it here :)
I enjoyed making the visuals for it, and coining it's name, which I wrongfully thought as unique. 
With my team partner, who is a sensible and hard working product designer (ignore the bottle form :), we did try very hard at the game play. But then I am not a very playful person, and that came through. And the visuals, after all, all just that- visuals :)


13/March/2009

jaali

introspection #1 :: what is the Big Idea

It is not the knowledge you have of the skills,

or the ability to visualise the unseen,

but what you do with both.

Until now, Anya Prints has been, sort of 'Art for Art's sake'

It needs to find an apex.
Something with an infinite quality.


For others, this has been
people :: profit :: culture :: earth :: peace :: spirituality :: education :: fame :: play ::


Am yet to reply when baba says "what's the big idea?" 

ahmedabadis love their birds

when I think of India

 my heart skips a beat

the image that made me think so

~ The CEO can either get a car in a moment, or an employee for a year ~

searching online

For tutorials on Printmaking, I found a BareForum, which is ok-ok.
But the interviews linked below are hilariously honest.
Read in the given order!


... On Limited Editions ... 
... On Subscription Sales ... 

... I'm not selling prints ... 

powdered painted poems

It took me a few attempts to drop a dot
Lines still elude my fingers
After much waking up, and squatting down
Will the labyrinth be undone


For those who wish to read more online, you may go here , here and here.

A delight!

The updated AIACA (All India Artisans and Craftworkers Welfare Association) website has a treasure of craft documentation and resource base, adding most positively to the Bible of Indian Handloom and Handicrafts.
Great work!

nahi chahiye

For some reason, I cannot find the same-ol-masala-maggi in the stores.
There is now a new 'masala' apparently.
Finally, a reason to call it quits with the 2-minute affair.

welcome dear camera, with henna and bokeh

now open

 

See the Water collection on the Anya Prints website 
Shop on Etsy 

night

one golden, printing day

disaster disaster, what are you after

activart

An activist is an active artist.
An artist would plant saplings in a chosen demarcated area, as being symbolic of an idea, 
or to highlight it's relationship with it's surrounding, 
or to grow them in a pattern morphing into something else, etc etc.
An activist will do the same, minus the 'demarcated area', minus the 'symbolic sampling',
minus the 'etc etc'.
     Both artists and activists are very closely related; 
     they part ways when one chooses to symbolise, 
     while the other chooses to actualise.

* Provoked by her photo. I can hear music and laughter, see vibrant colours beyond her. 

I see nothing political; much artistic indeed. I can't keep up with all that she did. 

I soaked up the bit where she led the tree plantation and reforesting campaign.

is there no skill

"...But they (transgenders) don’t need particular educational qualifications to become hairdressers, 
beauticians, choreographers, fashion designers or make-up artists..."


An article related to Manipur, but applies to the rest of the world too.
Male designers are stereotyped as gay in fashion.
Fashion and its associated industries are considered elementary. 
Even though it can create astonishingly sophisticated visuals.
All those in the fashion industry look either unduly odd or simply dressed in black.
Everyone is trying too hard to look effortlessly different.

However, all these associations do not matter when it comes to the output.
Even if fashion designers are just glorifed darzis (as Ravi Bajaj rightly puts it) in India, 
it still takes much effort and learning to be a darzi in the first place.
In all the dust, a sparkle shines, born from this skill and imagination. 
Beyond one's gender, and efforts even.

a start

 

Anya Prints, India
Original Handprinted Visuals


My current and lifelong project- of making hand printed visuals for everyone.
The first collection is a set of silkscreen printed greeting cards.


Empty websites are not very promising. Hope to fill them up in two weeks.
Start I must, however.
(bolo bajrang bali ki jai!)
And squarerootofminusnine has been re-routed  too.

drawing in the dark ~ iii

longersations legging around
glass glasses with honking sounds
a hairstyle unfigurable
a leg unstable
as runny snoots lounge
among indigo leaves

drawing in the dark ~ i

the streetlight yellow
the orange flowers
engulf the laawaris
all so bright,
in the night

nice parting words

~  ~  ~
Unlike Coroflot.
Which has no delete option!
Have to request via email.

price of everyday things

Coffee and cocoa have always been premium goods.

But Hing!

That Maggi (unhealthy), Soyabean Nutrela (flavourless sponge) and Mushroom (fungus) cost much the same, says there is a lot more in common between them :)

the excel 

drawing in the dark ~ ii

The painting looks far from moon lit.

Next time I will hold out the work, extending my hand forward, 

and see whether the paper merges with the surrounding. Hmm.

the noble one

Be Linen Movie from Benoit Milliot on Vimeo.

The fabric of linen is simply caressed with the camera lens. 
Without making one dizzy.

suspended

source of photo on right

in the himalayas

the temple of fire (water)