I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited India on three occasions, these were over ten years ago, but the experiences have left me with images that spark my imagination constantly, and I am always referring to events and things I saw then both in my work and in discussions with colleagues and with my students.
The first was an unplanned and unexpected ‘stop off’ in Mumbai en route to Australia. After the second year of my degree I took time out and worked for a year, I undertook initial research and then spent six months travelling in Australia researching and recording Aborginal Art. I had become interested in landscape and the importance of place and wanted to explore and understand how artsist responded and were influenced by their landscapes. I travelled to many art sites and spend time researching in state libraries, museums and galleries, as well as working with young urban Aboriginal artists at a co-operative in Sydney. The project became the subject of my thesis and the starting point for my final year work.
The first was an unplanned and unexpected ‘stop off’ in Mumbai en route to Australia. After the second year of my degree I took time out and worked for a year, I undertook initial research and then spent six months travelling in Australia researching and recording Aborginal Art. I had become interested in landscape and the importance of place and wanted to explore and understand how artsist responded and were influenced by their landscapes. I travelled to many art sites and spend time researching in state libraries, museums and galleries, as well as working with young urban Aboriginal artists at a co-operative in Sydney. The project became the subject of my thesis and the starting point for my final year work.
A combination of factors - political (The Gulf War) and technical (a dodgy plane) led to me being deposited in Mumbai. It was in September in the middle of the night and during one of the main events in the Ganesh festival. I can remember being in a cramped minibus jostling its way through a mass of people to an unknown hotel surrounded by drumming, whistles, chanting and lights, red powder being thrown into the air and covering people and large plaster idols being carried to the sea. The atmosphere was intoxicating: the colours, sounds and smells the imagery was like nothing I had seen or experience before. I wondered why India had never entered my radar before. With no visas or medicine we were advised to stay in the hotel, as we would be leaving the following morning. It was from here I observed the celebrations, itching to go and immerse myself in the crowd. The overnight stop planted a seed and we have since taken two trips to the southern states, to ‘gently’ introduce India, travelling around and exploring both the coast and inland.
Things that have struck me most about India: The resourcefulness and ingenuity of people particularly the craftspeople working with limited materials and resources producing stunning work; like the boats in the south, constructed by using planks of timber ‘stitched' together with string made from coconut husks and sealed with a tar-like material made by boiling down the shells. Shelters made from the tops and bottoms of large Ghee tins stitched onto wooden structures or by weaving large palm fronds together to cover workmen whilst they repaired the road. The colours and the diversity.
Stitched Boats from Kerela.
