Ideation, Iterations and process.

 here is what the project looked like in my head at stage one. there were  many complications at each step and the project changed shape ,size, and set up a number of times but was successful in retaining the main elements and my thought till the last stage. here, the viewer was to enter througha life size wooden frame, into a roomlike space that would look like this:

here is what the project looked like in the end :)

I finally used the idea of the indian garland hung on pictures of loved ones that have passed away. the garland is a symbol of love and memorizing. i used a garland as my frame and i did a still set up as the things to be remembered and loved. looking through the frame, the viewer saw life: a writer's desk that looked like it is much in use and yet archival objects on it appeared to be floating upwards symbolic of time passing away. the lighting was warm and little details like a jacket hung at the corner of the chair, and a handkerchief hanging out of the pocket, made it look like someone's personal space rather than a set up.
i interviewed many of my family members about what my uncle was like. i tried to understand what his life meant to him and others around him through his hobbies, habits and work. while my family healed as they talked of him as something other than a victim, i tried to build a relationship with him. i tried to get to know him on a first hand basis. i even found our common interests! the project's process was a journey that gave me a chance to get to know someone who didn't exist anymore in the one way most familiar to us, but is also alive in so many other ways.
The frame (garland) and the desk set up had a little walk in the middle, like the time difference of his present and mine. the viewer first stood outside the frame and then took a walk through the frame and was able to stand right at the desk, looking onto it. the desk had a typewriter poised as though in the middle of producing a piece of work. papers seemed to be coming out of it and going upwards, suspended. his photography work too seemed to be coming out of his ancient film camera and going upwards. photographs of him and his life too, were placed giving hints of his personality and his way of life, making it easier for the viewer to relate at any distance they chose.