Final Reflections

1. PROJECTS TITLES: Why did you choose these projects and what was involved in the decision making process? (Refer to the three projects you have done)

In the beginning of the course, it was difficult to access memories. We were required to look within our memory store and produce something.  In the first project I did, titled- Shared Memories, I looked for my fondest memory as a child and tried to recreate the joy and wonder for the viewers, so that they too could experience the wonder and awe of a child. I had already made a short animation as per the course requirements of use of image and sound, but I decided to put up two installations as well, as an interactive experience of childhood. It also looked at how we share memories.

 By the second exhibition, I was extremely comfortable with the idea of memory as recourse for work. The exhibit, What the Fire Burnt Away, was based on a traumatic family as well as historical memory. This time I wanted to create an experience out of the exhibit and a journey out of my project. I chose a very difficult part of my family history and got to know it from close and finally built a relationship with it that was comfortable. The decisions to be made were about where to be subtle and where to be strong. I needed to find a gentle, yet crude way o bring across my feelings. I needed a good introduction so that the viewers could get involved/ feel related. I needed to decide exactly how much distance or closeness I wanted to maintain between my memory and my viewer.  I also needed to decide how to show that it was a larger memory, shared by a whole community and the political identity of our nation.

  The third project, Outer Skin, was collaboration, and it came out of a lot of dialogue with many people, especially my partner. There was no pre-decided memory or theme, but the process brought the outcome. My work was in reaction to my partners work. The decisions to be made here were of the form to be used and those of to what extent and which way should my work be collaborated with his so that the exhibit remains strong and effective.

2. SUBJECT: Reflect on the subject matter of your chosen projects and the breadth of research that you have conducted on these subjects?

In my first exhibit, Shared Memories, I wanted to look at how we share memories. I experienced my father’s childhood memories because he included all his best memories into mine. And as I grew up with him, we shared many more memories that we cherish today, common to both of us. I made a series of illustrations that I later turned into an animation using selective movement in the images and added related sounds. To make this work speak to the viewers and for them to really experience my childhood memories, I put up two installations as well. It was these 2 parts of the project that really served the purpose. With the interactions that came about, they were able to reproduce the wonder, excitement, awe and surprise that I remember experiencing while growing up with my father. These two installations were about learning to make a kite, and going fishing for the first time. The mediums used and their possibilities were key to make this work. This is also the field that I did most research for.

 In my second exhibit, What The Fire Burnt Away, I had to do heavy research. I had chosen a memory I remember hearing of time and again while growing up, but I knew very little of its cause and effect situation. I had to start from the very beginning: understanding the political, historical, economical and social conditions of Punjab in the early 1980s. I had to read up, and talk to my family to see different points of view and them make my own opinion. Then I had to go into the details of the event my memory was about. This too had to be done considering many views. What this gave me was an understanding of a time I had never bothered to think about before. Once the historical facts were clear and the happenings of the event were placed in order, I had to record what I felt, and from that, I would have to create my exhibit. This project also required for me to get to know someone who is no more, and I haven’t ever met. This was the most interesting part. I had to talk to many people, read and view his work, collect his belongings and recreate him in my mind. The final exhibit was a view, a brief meeting between this person and the viewer.

  My third project, Outer Skin, was somehow related to my second one, even though it entirely came about through conversations with my collaborating partner. The research part of it and my opinions had already formed in the second project as I collected whatever was left of my uncle through his material possessions. As my partner and I started to talk with fashion, we followed a procedure where we would post a thought to other and receive a reaction. The thread of conversation finally lead to me thinking of different perspectives to different fashions. I sent him photographs of the traditional burka, turban etc. and asked him to react. I also took the perspective of the people wearing the same and compared them. It was then that I started to think about fashion being about choice. And also about fashion applying to things beyond clothes. At this point I referred to my understanding of ‘things left behind’. They were all chosen by someone to speak of them. And once they were gone, it was these chosen possessions that spoke of them, like they had shed their outer skin.

3. AIMS/OBJECTIVES/CONCEPTS: How and to what extent have you achieved the aim and objectives of the projects? Describe the main concepts driving the projects.

Shared Memories:

The main concept was that we share memories with people around us and that my father’s memories do have some effect on my memories even though we belong to different times. Through the project I shared my memories as an experience with the viewers. I was able to bring out the same reactions of awe and wonder, as the ones I had experienced when I first encountered fishing and kite making. The fact that this was possible through a recreation was an achievement. The short animation film that I created was a view of a childhood on a farm. It was both documentation and a narrative about the sharing of memories between my father and I.

What the Fire burnt away:

The main aim was to get to know my uncle even though he is no more, and I had never met him, through this project. I wanted the exhibit to both capture his life and personality, and to speak of my journey of getting to know him, so that the viewer himself could build a relationship with him and take that journey if he wishes to. I wanted to celebrate and remember him for what he was and loved, rather than what he was reduced to due to the riots. The exhibit became like the Indian ritual of the death ceremony where a garland adorns a hung picture and everyone comes and pays their respect. Here, I literally hung a huge garland, and the symbolic picture was an installation- my attempt to recreate him from the things he loved and the work he did. People came and got to know him like I wanted them to. The project was able to bring emotional reactions and a lot of conversation, which showed that the viewers were able to take that journey and connect with my process.

Outer Skin:

Fashion to be is an extension of us; it is our expressive outer skin. We are perceived as a whole: personality and appearance. Certain hairstyles, coats, shoes immediately remind us of somebody’s style. All my grandparents passed away in the last couple of years. As I walk through their houses, it is their little belongings that bring back their memory. The particular style of spectacles, their certain favorite perfumes and their certain chosen styles of clothing, all bring back visuals of their existence. These material possessions speak of time, fashion, style and spirit. I compared the material possessions that live on to the outer shed skin of a reptile. It retains its whole form as its inner occupant leaves it behind. In this project, I recreated this feeling of looking at something and letting it speak of its owner/wearer. I did not have my grandparents’ possessions so I created 2 hypothetical people from the memories of all 4 of my grandparents. I collected and treated various possessions and used lighting and set design to do a photographic representation of this concept. I believe I was able to create two lives: their choice of fashion, their time of existence, their interests etc. through my series of diptychs. The feedback I got from the viewers said that they felt like they were looking into a documentation of two real lives, all through their belongings. Some others said that the experience was similar to film’s character introduction.

4. AUDIENCE: Are you addressing a specific audience with your work within these projects? For example, a specific community, your peers, members of your family, a corporation or business, educators, patients of a hospital department, government agencies?

I think I challenged myself with making entry points for all sorts of viewers all through. This is why I especially worked on the details of the introduction to my projects. However, the projects always drew people of similar memories further in. I had a lot of conversations with the viewers. The first project, based on my father’s and my childhood memories drew people who had similar memories furthest in even though a lot of people responded and enjoyed recalling their own different memories. The second one, about my uncle being the martyr in 1984 and my journey towards getting to know him, lead to close interactions with people who had dealt with loss themselves or closely watched a loved one’s loss. There were two people who recalled sharing the same historical memory. This was a different feeling, as I found collective memory with stories different and similar to mine. The third project was the easiest for people to relate with. I wanted to portray a personal thought and feeling, in a way that was easily relatable. I think recreating, rather than actually documenting artifacts may have helped. There was a lot of talk about how these manmade things possessed life that was much longer than man’s life itself. And about how these sights could be healing as well as breaking at first, but were surely a treasure. There was also conversation about how these possessions seemed to have their owners’ lives in them and that visual recollections were most easily made through them. I found this very true.

5. FORM/MEDIUM/PRESENTATION: What are the forms and methods of presentation that you are working with? From the work you have done so far, have you gained any insights on your approach to making, doing and documenting?

I worked with a variety of mediums through this project time. I worked with illustration, animation, sound and image and their relationship with each other, in the very beginning. I then explored installations as a form of representation with depth. I worked with an interactive installation first and then with one which dealt with making an experience/journey out of viewing. The order of display and the introduction were the key points needing much detailed attention. I explored photographs as a medium in the last project and found it extremely close to the idea of memory. The medium is flexible and can wear any sort of treatment. Therefore experiments and informed designing decisions became key.

Documenting turns out to be a whole new project rather than an after work to be effective. It is important to give the overview and the inside details of the project for a viewer to feel just what the project conveys. It is to be treated like a first view rather than an after view. This involves planning while documenting and while displaying. It needs a good introduction and an easy flow that can be followed.

6. RESEARCH METHODS: What kind of research methods have you used to research the projects work in depth, and how has your research informed your process?

I almost always followed this process:

I first looked at my recent thoughts and reactions from memory or from having read or watched something related to something important that I feel about. Then I tried formulating a concept, by looking further into my idea and broadening my recourse horizon. This involved a lot of research and reading most of the time. I read a lot of personal accounts related to what I chose. This is where I looked at the kind of work produce by artists, both early and contemporary. The work I looked at varied from documents or diary entries, an art piece, a performance, a film to an entire exhibition. This is where I would sit and ideate and iterate about my concept. The form to chose came naturally. But what followed was the process of simplifying. This was the most challenging part. I always came up with something big in terms of time needed and resources to be used. I would then narrow down, trying to retain the main elements and also try to make it stronger/more effective. The result was always neater and more complete. My second project went through as many as ten variations. After this stage, work happened really fast. I would put in straight hours and work towards the final idea. Getting informed about the work done around the same fields of interest proved to be very important. Reading up only added depth and layers to my work. I specially found interviews and diary documents very useful. I interviewed a lot of people on facebook for my last project when I was comparing cultures according to their traditional clothing and different perceptions of the same across cultures. I interviewed my parents for hours for my second project and their talk formulated an idea in my head about how I must treat my project in terms of sensitivity, subtlety and gentleness. Research has always been the most productive and interesting part of the project for me.

7. REFERENCES: How useful were the references you explored so far- the artists, anthropologists, designers, writers or other practitioners?

References have almost always proved to be helpful in finding a starting, building or ending point for my work. Sometimes, when I was stuck as to how to formulate and express a feeling, they offered an understanding based on which I could create my expression. When it came to form, they opened new possibilities and challenges. Looking at designs that were successful was both inspiring and encouraging. Research always makes work more informed. And I feel that a good way to make your work relatable to by the masses, is to understand work of the masses, because you understand people and cultures in this way.

8. POSITION & RELATIONSHIP: How do you think your projects would function in, or be positioned to contribute to, similar contemporary fields of production?

I think that in all my projects, i was able to reach a certain depth. And within these works i have collected  thoughts( of mine and many others). Because of this reason i feel that my projects can definitely contribute and thus function in similar contemporary fields of production. In much of my work was explorations of understanding memory and its peculiar ways. This comes through in my work which makes it easy for people to relate to.