time and travel

sometimes travel can be encapsulated in time.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152420840851078

a day in words

Plastic bags| florescence| ripping zippers| green green monsters| elaborate clothing| caterpillars crawl| moths can be colorful too| early bright mornings| paints & prints| glasses can't be fun| elucidations are always cerebral| ambiance needs time| good things & sacrifices| long lasting friendships| hungry bellies| elitists & social barriers| itineraries & backpacks| transparency & light| photo journals| anticipating great things.

last minute tales

Reconciliations| questions & answers| time constraints| melodies| strengths and weaknesses| last-minute love stories| counter-conversations| definitions & abstractions| embraces| palm trees| blue,blue skies| foreign songs| in sickness & health| last kisses| death| new chapters| white daisies| black gowns.

Inspired by 'no me ames' Marc Anthony feat. Jennifer Lopez 

Reactions to an exhibition of Kulwant Roy's at NGMA

Photo Exhibition at NGMA (Kulwant Roy’s) Curated by Aditya Arya. Kulwant Roy was not formally trained in the medium of photography which gave him the autonomy to explore socio-political phenomenon of pre-independence and post-independence scene in India in an uninhibited & real fashion. He recorded these in a photo-journalistic approach. Among the many things he has recorded are Jawaharlal Nehru’s volunteering activities in the Congress seva dal. The many collaborative efforts of our political figures like Mahatma Gandhi and Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Nehru and Maulana Azad. One such had appeared in the newspaper of those times, a photograph of Nehru, Gandhi & Sardar Patel together, titled ‘Solving knotty problems’ in The Sunday Hindusthan Standard. Some cut-out images of J.Nehru depicts how photographers manually tried to create something different in days when technology was limited. A cut-out photo of J.Nehru is displayed using a painted background and framed, to create an optical perception. There are many beautifully documented photographs of Mahatma Gandhi’s meetings which include Gandhi leaving a prolonged discussion with Stafford Cripps, Gandhi at a prayer meeting, his third-class travels in the Railways. Not only was he capable of bringing out the solemnity of political leaders and their significance, but he also visually narrated their human-element and ordinariness in his photographs that have resonated with me. These include J.Nehru washing his hands after lunch at a congress working committee meeting, his Holi celebrations and the informal interactions with Jackie Kennedy where they share a laugh. Some of his photographs have also been conceptually presented. The photos of Gandhi that appear fragmented keeps you wondering about the photo-technique used & The photos of Sardar Vallabai Patel’s proof prints that are arranged in a unique sequence and framed, creating an abstract presentation.. He continued his work photographing the social and political metamorphosis of India, and there are some pictorial evidence of these in the context of international interaction by Indian leaders. This spills into his photographs on nation building(post-independence), where he has photographed actual construction workers, drilling operations, the infrastructure activities from the Bhakra Nangal dam, Light-latern factory workers..poetically depicting the common labourer’s odic life, while communicating the massive effort that goes into the work of building a new nation.

Synopsis on 'Never Sorry' (A Documentary by Alyson Klayman)

NGMA Bangalore, Movie screening- (AI WEI WEI-Chinese artist and activist) documentary movie called NEVER SORRY by Alyson Klayman. The documentary is a visual and audio narrative that moves casually between the personal life of the artist and his professional work.  Famous mostly for his artistic contribution (artistic consultant on the project) to the ‘bird’s nest’ national stadium in Beijing, china.. there is more to this multi-talented artist/activist than what can be encapsulated in a movie. His works are exceptionally visual and conceptual.  His works are underlined with not just creativity but also strong questions about the use of the  government power in matters affecting the people of china, for example, his video document called Hua Lian Ba’er,  which is about the Siachen earthquake that aggravated its effects due to poor school infrastructure causing the death of numerous students. Not only this, but he also made an installation using back-packs called ‘remembering’, which is embedded with the message (describing the earthquake victim’s mother)‘she lived happily for seven years in this world’. His performance art – that has been photographed called ‘Han Dynasty’  where Ai Weiwei  is seen breaking a relic urn, tries to redefine the history and culture connotations  of china and at the same time acknowledging it. Accepting the old but breaking away from it, to make way for the new. His Neolithic-culture pot with the coca-cola logo on it, attempts to question global, cultural and economical contexts.. the value of artistic & cultural commodities in a capitalistic economy. His ‘Sunflower Seeds’ exhibition was about life-sized sunflower seed husks handcrafted in porcelain. Each one of these seeds have been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the China. Rather than being industrially produced, they are a collective effort of hundreds of skilled hands. The 100 million seeds are laid on the floor to form an experiential – visual landscape. Since porcelain is china’s most prized export

, Ai WeiWei with this work invites us to explore the subject matter of ‘made in china’ phenomenon.  He also maintains(maintained) a blog of his writings, interviews and digital rants. His ability to slither through the visual arts, architecture, design, performance art and socio-political activism is astounding!