The Power of Making

The film of the metalsmiths in Bangladesh has been included in the Crafts Councils exhibition: The Power of Making.
The show; in the Porter Gallery, at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; runs from the 05/09/11- 02/01/12. 

Building boats - making toys

The exhibition finishes at the V&A Museum of Childhood this weekend and moves on to the Harley Gallery in Nottinghamshire. To mark the end of the London show the MoC has organised an event celebrating Asian culture:  'A glimpse of Asia'.

I have been asked for ideas for a one day collaborative project / installation inspired by the exhibition and MSSP project and suitable for working with all ages of visitors to the museum.
Two thoughts a came to mind, both similar in process: -  participants could personalise a standard design on flat sheet of card using coloured pencils, cut it out,learn to fold and form it to make a 3D object, add their own creation as part of a larger shared collaborative piece. They can also make another to take home.

Looking back through the sketchbooks my first thought was to make a wall panel of folded flowers - paper versions of the metal ones in the show and inspired by the textiles, garlands and offering flowers I had seen in India and Bangladesh, the block printing, the wall paintings and the project with the children at the school. Individuals could colour in their own flowers or add messages to the petals, then pin them together with others to make a vivid panel of colour and texture.

The second; a flotilla of boats to grow and float its winding way across the museum floor. 

Inspired by the boats in Bangladesh, the visit to the Boat museum, the toy 'put-put' boats in the markets in Bangladesh and India, the boat yards at Mandvi and the tin toys in the Museum of Childhood.

The boat idea won the day, so I have been designing and making simple card models of boats from a single A4 sheet, forms that can be personalised, easily cut out, scored, folded and assembled with minimal equipment and resources (so far I have one like the putt putt boats, another based on a bangladesh boat).

The A4 template sheets can be copied onto card.

I hope it will be a fun day and we will be able to make lots of them, it will be great to see them cover part of the floor and weave its way across one of the museum spaces.

Metalsmithing in Bangladesh

An article about the metalworkers I visited in Bangladesh during the MS: SP Fellowship has been included in the Craft Revival Trust Website. The website is "a constantly expanding Encyclopedia featuring information on the makers, the techniques, processes and vocabulary of the intangible cultural heritage of South Asia".

Baasher Ghor - The Bamboo House

Images from the tribal villages in Lawachara National Park in Bangladesh, taken during the MS:SP Fellowship, have been selected for inclusion in the project 'Baasher Ghor - The Bamboo House'.

Tarun & Tapan @ Britto

Redlands School, Tower Hamlets

Together, over a 3 day period (24th, 25th & 26th), the artists involved in the project and Teresa Hare Duke from the V&A Museum of Childhood delivered a series of workshops at Redlands School in Tower Hamlets. These were part of a much wider community programme organised by Teresa which included work with The Central Foundation School in Mile End.

Redlands school has an amazing, large and well resourced art room, thanks to the teacher Helen Kelly.

Tarun, Tapan and Lokesh had been busy with workshops both whilst at the Harley Gallery and during their stay in London.

The workshops with the school explored rickshaw art and block printing. The children saw images of the rickshaws we had seen in Bangladesh as inspiration

samples of Tapans painting

and examples of rickshaw components.

Simple shapes like those seen on the back of rickshaws had been cut from metal foil and primed.

The children drew out their designs on paper, then transfered them to the metal foil using acrylics.

With Lokesh the children used traditional wood blocks from India to print designs onto paper (cards and wrapping paper)

and fabric (Muslin).

We showed the children images of the Block printers at New Market in Dhaka. To my amazement a large number of the 9-11 yr olds in the workshops had been to Bangladesh and recognised where it was.

Still Landing

Made a brief and unplanned presentation this week to the Art & Design Foundation students at City College of some of the films of craftspeople working in both Bangladesh and Gujarat. The films prompted some debate about the economics of crafts and lots of questions and subsequent talk about the nature of craft and design in theses countries. Both staff and students were really interested and there was a silence and stillness in the room as they watched. It was great to see them learning and engaged in what they were seeing, to share what I had experienced as part of the fellowship and get responses to what I had produced. - (they even applauded at the end a lovely surprise!).
Since returning I have been brought back into the reality of juggling work, teaching, being a father and a husband whilst grabbing snippets to reflect on the amazing experience I have had. The time and space to think, look, observe, record and just absorb has been wonderfully refreshing and personally shifting. I have flashbacks - vivid scenes of places I visited on the fellowship, some stills and some moving images. I want to get into the thirty + DVD's of data - images and films - to start filtering, re-experiencing, contextualising and responding creatively to what I have seen. At the moment I'm struggling to find the space to do this. Since returning I have been very fortunate to be proposed and offered new projects and possibilities which are exciting developments of the MSSP fellowship and new ventures - work must go on and deadlines must be met, money earnt.
I've started to 'Backfill" the blog, adding images, text and films on the days I hadn't covered ( resizing the photos and selecting through them was taking lots of time whilst away and I thought it better to be out looking rather than sitting in front of a computer). I'm sorting through the imagery, the books and papers as well as the collections of objects I brought / sent back from both Bangladesh and Gujarat, picking out things. The flashbacks and thoughts I have, get noted down in my sketchbook and  we've cooked and eaten food I experienced on my travels. All aspects of filtering and evaluating what may have the potential for further development.
I have enjoyed the photography, - it became a new tool, something I hadn't used much in my work and I have been looking at other photographers and there work in a very different way, even looking at possible routes of study in the subject. I started to explore the weaving the bamboo baskets and fans. The metal baskets and textiles are displayed in my studio space and around the house, helping me make connections and promting ideas and memories. I tried cutting fine strips of steel to use to weave a basket and explore how the metal basket from Bangladesh was made - just to try to reproduce it - to understand how the material might work. Unfortunately the guillotine couldn't cope with such fine strips and they buckled and bent. I need to explore other ways of getting thin strips of metal cut without them folding or twisting.... laser/ water-jet cutting? rolling wire?

I decided to use some of the raw cotton paper from the Ghandi Ashram factory to undertake some tests in weaving too. decided to laser cut the strips out, and spent some time testing out different widths and settings on the laser - whilst they were cutting the patterns looked like the rows of rice drying at the rice mills in Bangladesh.
Off to the Harley next week to meet up with the rest of the project team and the artists who have come over to the UK.

Following the Ganges

Nose dived by mosquitos as I now sit in the departure lounge of the airport, I feel as though I am still waking. It was a late night and an early rise to get here. Leaving the flat I stepped across sleeping bodies around the apartment, the debris left from the party last night.

A mad cng rickshaw journey gave little time for reflection about Dhaka, I had arrived 26 days ago as the city was preparing for the dark. The journey in log jammed traffic had taken 2hrs, this morning as the haze of pollution still lingers like a morning mist, it takes only half an hour. When we had arrived at the airport nearly a month ago, we had heard the evening call to prayer – I leave now in the dawn, as the city starts to move. Things in Dhaka don’t seem to stop, people sweep the dust in the streets left by the construction lorries, spinning it up in the air only for it to descend somewhere else. One thing that I will not miss about Dhaka is the thin grey film of dust which falls silently and coats everything – the bath, the sink, clothes, the floor. Whilst the pollution is bad here, Bangladesh has taken bigger steps than some; plastic bags are banned and natural gas powered vehicles are much more common than in the UK, all rickshaws in the cities are CNG powered.

The journey to the airport was relatively quiet, just the occassional horn, a thing I will not miss is the constancy of their noise here too.

Some of the sounds were amazing to hear, experiencing a city wake with the ripples of song, the men calling for alms on a Friday, the musical rhythm of the metalworkers hammering, the tinkle of the rickshaw bells. Bangladesh gets into all of your senses.

Dhaka - Delhi, Dehli - Mumbai, Mumbai - Ahmedabad.

We fly out over the top of the National Assembly Building, the Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban and head out to roughly follow the line of the river Ganges, passing between Patna and Varanasi with a glimpse of Kathmandu and the Himalayas peaking through the clouds in the distance.

The Ganges river had been used by the East India Company as a main trade route for shipping goods from across India to the coast via Kolkata (Calcutta), and then out into the Bay of Bengal and off to markets across the seas. For Hindus the Ganges is the holiest of all rivers. It is central to the history of the Indian subcontinent.

"The Ganges, above all is the river of India, which has held India's heart captive and drawn uncounted millions to her banks since the dawn of history. The story of the Ganges, from her source to the sea, from old times to new, is the story of India's civilization and culture, of the rise and fall of empires, of great and proud cities, of adventures of man…". Nehru: 'The Discovery of India'.

As the plane moves towards Dehli, the land below becomes a patchwork of fields.

Near Mumbai there are stunning mountains.

I liked the patterns, lines and markings on the runways.
It feels odd, now, sitting at Mumbai airport, waiting for my third flight of the day to Ahmedabad, I am surrounded by tourists of all ages and origins. Having spent the last 26 days seeing only approximately 10 other ‘white’ westerners and at times feeling like the oddity, its feels comforting to be able to disappear and blend into the background. Britto have helped us to see beyond the tourist and to get inside a tiny bit of Bangladesh, to see the exciting and culturally intense aspects of that country, to see the things that make them as artists 'tick' to see the things and share what inspires.

I liked the vinyl drawings on the walls in the airport at Mumbai, even though some bits were missing.

I land in Ahmedabad, Gujarat and I'm met by 'Jonny' owner of Ahmedabad Travel, a tour guide company and friend of Arts Reverie. He takes me to Dhal ne Pol, he talks of the mad traffic and how busy and hectic it is on the roads. We pass several of the cities gates. I feel overwhelmed by the idea of further visual and cultural stimulas. The roads seem relatively calm and empty compared to Dhaka. I'm in India!

Packing

My last day in Bangladesh was a slow and gentle one, time to reflect on the events and experiences of Bangladesh. I spent time sorting and packing, preparing to go on to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, India for the second stage of the fellowship.

I briefly visited New Market to get some last minute things.

Whilst Thurle and I had been away in Srimongol it had rained in Dhaka and there was a heady and tropical heat.

The mango trees were pleased. The rain had washed their leaves. The water had prompted them to burst into colour and bud, ready to turn into juicy mangos.

In the evening Britto took over Owens and Lenas apartment and organised a party to welcome Elena back and say good bye to Thurle and I. It was good to see, say goodbye to and to be able to thank many of the people who had made our time so valuable and special in Bangladesh. My thanks to Britto, CRAC and all those I met for their welcome and generosity. Thurle will be staying a little longer and flying to India in 4 days time, I wish to see something of the Holi Festival in Gujarat, so am departing a few days earlier.

It was sad to leave, I have had an amazing time. There are some aspects of living in Dhaka and Bangladesh that are difficult to experience and comprehend and I had only seen a small part of the city and the country. It is a place of extremes; skill, craftsmanship, inventiveness, wealth, beauty, generosity, poverty, pollution......

I have learnt an immense amount and gained new personal insights into the country and culture.

I leave inspired and impressed by the energy and dynamic here. Bangladesh is a country and a people that have been through an immense amount of change in relatively recent history. Despite being battered by natural disasters and war, I come away with respect for an outward and foward looking people, resilient, resourceful, immensely proud, modest and protective of their culture, history and identity.

I feel that I have just started to find my feet with some of the threads of interest, the metal working and the woven metal artefacts are really exciting. I would like to research more and continue to explore and discover more of the bamboo weaving too. There are further places I would like to visit; the Chittagongs, the Sunderbans, and places I would like to visit again in more detail. Although I have only touched the surface here; the time at Owens, with Britto, with CRAC, at Dhamrai and with the people we have met, have helped me to get a little below the surface and to get a more 'embedded' sense of life here, I am very grateful. I'm leaving Bangladesh exhausted and visually saturated, but with a thirst to learn more.