Making Space:Sensing Place

In October 2009, along with artist Thurle Wright, I was awarded a Making Space:Sensing Place Fellowship; part of the HAT: Here and There International Exchange Programme, managed by A Fine Line:Cultural Practice. The Fellowship includes residencies with Britto Arts in Dhaka, Bangladesh, with Arts Reverie in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, with The V&A Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London and with The Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire. Working and collaborating with artists and craftspeople from the UK, Bangladesh and India, responding to the collections and spaces we encounter and sharing these experiences through a touring exhibition and educational workshops.

This blog, which is still developing and being added to, is a record of my experiences during the MS:SP Fellowship. Steven Follen.
www.stevenfollen.com

Thursday 4 March 2010

Wall decoration

Traveling around Ahmedabad I had seen this decoration on a boundary wall. Some wonderful drawing. Apparently the designs are drawn on the outside of the property when there is a wedding in the family. A great way of beautifying the space.
Something I had eaten yesterday really did not agree with me and I sadly missed the last evening meal with the LAB participants at the House of MG, I was sorry not to say goodbye, as they had all headed for flights back home in the early hours.

Leaving LOkesh's flat late this morning I noticed that the walls nearby were decorated with drawings as well. The designs are similar to Mandala, as seen in the yantra engravings and the Rangoli or Alpana designs drawn with rice flour.

These designs covered a wall some 100m long and included detailing on the capping and around small openings in the wall.
The designs included Paisley patterns, (the origins of this mark are in the print of the side of the hand in rice paste, often on the side of a building, to record the scale of a rice harvest) and the swastika, a symbol which has its Indian origins in the Indus Valley Civilizations of Ancient India.