DIPLOMA PROJECT DOCUMENTATION BOOK NAMRATA SINGH 2015
FABRIC OF THE GHATS
SPLICE - AN ICONIC JOINT DIPLOMA PROJECT 2015
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INTRODUCTION DEL LAB WHAT IS A SPLICE? WHY THE WESTERN GHATS? THE WESTERN GHATS - A LANDSCAPE
THE LENS DEVELOPING A LENS MATERIAL SPLICE INSIGHTS IMMATERIAL SPLICE NSIGHTS ROLE AS A DESIGNER DESIGN BRIEF
TRAVELOGUE DOCUMENTING THE LENS AGUMBE UDUPI MALPE ST.MARYS
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CONSTRUCTION OF PLOT ITERATIONS FINAL PLOTS ABSTRACTION OF GRADIENTS NATURE OF GRADIENTS POINTS OF INTERDEPENDENCIES ABSTRACTION OF INTERDEPENDENCIES BASE PRINT ARTWORKS
CONSTRUCTION OF FABRIC PAPER ITERATIONS MATERIAL COLOUR STRUCTURE ITERATIONS AND EXPLORATIONS WORK IN PROGRESS
CONCLUSION PHOTOSHOOT TEXTILES - A SOCIAL MEDIUM REFLECTION BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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LED LAB WHAT IS A SPLICE? WHY THE WESTERN GHATS? THE WESTERN GHATS - A LANDSCAPE
INTRODUCTION
DEL LAB The DEL LAB is set up to challenge the existing legal, environmental, social, economic and cultural framework through interdisciplinary thinking and creativity to enable creative adaptation for bringing in a change within larger systems, in order to strengthen resilience. Design thinking and tools have been the core of the methodology used, to embrace the complexity of legal frameworks, in particular. Questions of ethics, morals, rights, justice, survival and adaptation arise from working in these modes that begin to highlight the need for deep values that can inform qualitative approaches
towards understanding our environment and ecosystem. In the work undertaken at the DEL LAB over the past one year various mediums have been explored. These mediums are not only a form to communicate issues and interventions, but also as a tool for research, using video, audio, photography and other artistic representations. The LAB intends to examine the use of various media for research, design activities and artistic practices to broaden the explorations and potential insights and experiences while carrying it out.
WHAT IS A SPLICE? To most people Western Ghats are a range of hills on the west coast of India covered with monsoon forests, a repository of minerals, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a biodiversity hotspot of India. However in this studio the Western Ghats are looked at as a SPLICE: a joint of two things that does not call attention to itself so much as to the new ‘singularity’ that it creates.
It is common to hear the word splice used to describe the taping of two celluloid strips in making a film , the tying of two ropes in extending a length , the joining of two pieces of wood in crafting an artefact , the juxtaposing of two images in creating a montage , the connecting of two pieces of music to make a performance.
WHY THE WESTERN GHATS?
The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), also known as the Gadgil Commission after its chairman Madhav Gadgil, was an environmental research commission appointed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests of India. The commission submitted the report to the Government of India on 31 August 2011. The report was for the people and not for the environmentalists or the environment. If people had to remain in this world, they needed nature and its resources. Hence it stated the need to protect the forests. However there was also a point made that mentioned that we require the forest but the forest does not require us. The report emphasized on studying the ecological and environmental problems of the Western Ghats and giving recommendations for the same. It mentioned about considering the Western Ghats as a sensitive area. On the similar lines the Kasturirangan report suggested that there was a need to find the right balance between the imperatives of conservation ecology and development for the complex Western Ghats system.
The site of investigation for this project is the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats have been the focus of many kinds of research and activism, development and conservation. Without contesting those approaches and activities this project proposes using design thinking as a praxis that integrates and reframes the concerns - bringing together humanities and social sciences , planning and design , law and policy landscape and the natural sciences. With its recent designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Western Ghats of India has become an extremely contested terrain between environmental and developmental concerns. Rather than to perpetuate the environment - development divide , this project proposes reimagining and reimaging the Ghats going beyond its many identities and relationships as a global biodiversity hotspot of flora and fauna , one of the oldest clouds and rainforests that are home to rare species of frogs and flowers , dwindling population of tigers , ancient practices of agriculture and conservation, sacred groves and national parks and the laws that govern them, monsoon catchments, human settlements and the natural
resources that support them all co existing in a fragile balance in this place that demands the negotiation , multiple scales , practices and relationships - rather than as enclaves and segregation of space. The fulfilment of the stated objectives largely depends on the wider public’s awareness, concern and responsibility towards biodiversity and environment. However, the complex political structure governing these issues, use of jargon in existing publications and lack of accessible information on the interdependencies in the Western Ghats present it an inadequately communicated subject. This project, headed by the LED lab at Srishti aims at creating a lens which would help in the creative communication of the interdependencies within the complex environment by developing a language for the lens which is in the interest of the wider public.
THE WESTERN GHATS - A LANDSCAPE The Ghats are popularly known as a range of hills on the West coast of India. Geologists see it as an escarpment of basalt in the north turning to gneiss laterite in the South, but also as a fertile ground of minerals, particularly iron that is exploited by the industries. Ecologists see it as a distinctive zone of moist deciduous forests, which absorbs the force of the south - west monsoon winds and over millennia has used to gather unique natural habitat. Social ecologists and anthropologists see it as a distinctive place of cultures that have made home for themselves between a particularly active global coast with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau to the east. On this basis the UNESCO, in July 2012, has sought to designate the Western Ghats as a world heritage site. It is a designation that is facing stiff opposition from developers, prospectus and politicians , making the Ghats a contested landscape where environment and development as much as culture and nature are being predictably positioned in opposition with one another , creating tremendous amount of conflict at multiple levels - from human animal development and development - conservation to conflicts over natural resources
An entirely new approach is needed if the UNESCO designation is to become an agent for positive change .In a place of a regional and spatial plan, which must inevitably operate by a regulatory policy that defines boundaries and disconnects complex interdependencies, an approach is necessary that begins with a new visualization of the Ghats and its complexity in space and time. At this stage of the project I began to understand the landscape in terms of its geography, history, culture, science and philosophy. We went through several sessions in class where we discussed about the landscape and the current situation in context to the landscape. I was trying to list the broader themes that were emerging from my research.
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DEVELOPING A LENS MATERIAL SPLICE INSIGHTS IMMATERIAL SPLICE NSIGHTS ROLE AS A DESIGNER DESIGN BRIEF
THE LENS
DEVELOPING A LENS In order to maintain the complexities of processes, forms, functions and relationships, the aim is to construct a lens which would bring in an interdisciplinary approach, to explore new ways of situating, visualizing and engaging complex environments. This lens would enable one to expose the nature of places and construct new images and imaginations, working from the particular to the larger idea and vice versa. The language of the lens will be used to propose a new approach/ model of enquiry, investigation and engagement that maybe applied to inform interventions that do not propagate “problems� but are synchronous and build resilience.
A splice is an iconic joint between two different entities which creates a new surface /area / dimension. It is a design operations and something you are seeing and witnessing. I have enacted the splice using material and immaterial joints for insights that would help in creating a language for the lens. Different ways of looking at the analogy were developed through this process
MATERIAL SPLICE A splice was to be crafted using tangible materials like wood, paper, textiles, prints, metal, plastic, glass, ceramic etc.
PROCESS 1
PROCESS 2
Strips of butter paper were inserted into a sliced piece of paper. This structure was held against a light source and a photograph was clicked after inserting and removing every strip to document the process. When the structure was woven completely and was intact the sliced piece of paper was cut open and strips were slipped out from it.
Kora cotton was used as a base. A threaded needle was passed through it. This loose thread was then directed by a blow dryer. The air from the blow dryer was changing the direction of the thread making it fall at different points on the fabric. The point where the thread fell was marked and the needle was passed through it. This helped build a complex structure using a single strand of thread.
INSIGHTS The splice enacted had a certain nature/characteristic to it. These insights were noted and further used in the construction of the lens for the project. The Western Ghats are characterized by different directions which are a result of the intersection between elements within the landscape.
The constructed diagram has a warp in the shades of grey in the vertical direction. Wefts of different shades of grey have been passed through the warps in a horizontal direction. This intersection gave rise to a new colour palate. Within each row there was one point that became the point of camouflage and there was another point that became the point of high contrast. The point that was plotted as a point of camouflage was marked in blue and the point that was plotted as a point of high contrast was plotted in red. This gave a new graph of points of camouflage and points of high contrast.
REVEAL AND CONCEAL BUILDING AND BREAKING EVER - CHANGING EVOLVING CAMOUFLAGING AND EXPOSING CONSTRUCTING AND DESTRUCTING
IMMATERIAL SPLICE A splice was to be crafted using intangible materials like a law, a word, films, concepts etc. The connection in this case was likely to be made on the basis of meaning, whether this meaning was in terms of colour, pattern, line, sound or intellectual content. Again there had to be a multiplicity that could be a series or random fields.
PROCESS
The concept of mixing two or more colours to form a new shade/tint/ tone was used to enact the splice. A base palate of colours from light to dark was created. A wave of grey was passed through this palate and a shade card was made using the new tones/tints and shades created by the intersection of the two.
INSIGHTS The splice enacted had a certain nature /characteristic to it.The Western Ghats is a field of gradients.
GRADIENTS INTERSECTIONS INTERACTIONS MIXING MORE TO LESS LIGHT TO DARK SHIFT FADING COLOUR CHANGE
ROLE AS A DESIGNER Textiles - as structures, systems of knowledge, and the material of everyday life - are inherently social. They are physical and psychological , material and tangible , temporal and geographic and form links between social change and our lives as experienced in our homes and on our bodies .Textile link one corporeal body to another , and link our corporeal bodies to social , ecological , political and economic bodies. In an ultra - connected world where news goes instantly global thanks to the internet, it has become highly impossible for designers to ignore their political conscience. This project aims at making a statement through the medium of textiles. The textiles/fabrics created through this project are not a representation of the landscape but a medium through which one can analyse the complexity of the interdependencies within the landscape. It is not aggravating or contradicting any judgement and notion that has been made about the landscape. It demonstrates something that people will question.
Traversing a landscape and interacting with a space to enable one to really question the facts about the landscape is what I feel informs my design practices. As a designer I feel it is my responsibility to construct a new lens to look through at the Western Ghats and to sensitize the rest of us as members of the landscape. In the case of this project I think it is important for us to start talking about the condition of the landscape. We must look at creating material that is thought provoking while dealing with the realities , in order to teach the impressionable minds in our society the adverse effects of politics and history and to give a face to what would otherwise remain a mere statistic in a textbook.
DESIGN BRIEF The world as we see it is rife with large global wicked problems that stem from complex social, ecological , economic , political and cultural issues and new patterns of consumption that impact human values and practices. The divide between government and citizen, development and environment and sustainability and resilience is widening at a rapid pace, while our ability to view the complexity of these issues is limited by current systems of knowledge and, as we see it, current ways of visualizing and representing complex environments despite the increasing volume of and access to data. This knowledge and ways has tended to over simplify complexity in order to understand and find solutions. Disciplinary boundaries have further limited the impact and relevance of these solutions, which potentially create and perpetuate dissonance. In order to maintain the complexity of processes, forms , functions and relationships this project aims to bring an interdisciplinary approach , to explore new ways of situating , visualizing and engaging complex environments .This new approach will begin to expose the nature of the landscape and construct new images and imaginations , working from the particular to the larger idea and vice versa.
The UNESCO has a certain way of looking at the Western Ghats . It is descriptive/ factual / informative /instructional /educative . It makes one understand about the landscape through its geography /history / science etc. A project that looks at the landscape through a new lens of gradients and infrastructures in order to experience the Western Ghats, India
HOW DOES ONE THEN OPEN UP A NEW LENS TO LOOK THROUGH AT THE GHATS? HOW CAN THIS NEW LENS HELP SOMEONE ELSE STUDY, UNDERSTAND AND ENGAGE WITH THE COMPLEX LANDSCAPE? The lens created for this project is not a metaphor. It is an analogy - a comparison between one thing and another for clarification. There are events that are actually happening in the Western Ghats which go unnoticed. This lens brings to light these events within the landscape and the nature of interdependencies between the elements involved in the events.
The splice between the infrastructure and gradient gives opportunity/ possibility for the interdependencies to manifest. The infrastructure is made up of different levels. The behaviour/ nature of the gradients varies depending upon the elements involved and the conditions they exist in. The infrastructure and gradient are interdependent on each other. The Western Ghats are a series of Interdependencies of all life forms and their inter connectedness within a web of life.
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DOCUMENTING THE LENS AGUMBE UDUPI MALPE ST.MARYS
TRAVELOGUE
DOCUMENTING THE LENS During the field trip we had to document the landscape through the language of the lens using sketches, photos, sound, videos etc. I maintained a logbook that helped me document my journey through the Western Ghats. I mostly used sketches and photographs to document the landscape through the lens of gradients, intersections and interdependencies.
AGUMBE Agumbe is a tropical rainforest in Shimoga district of Karnataka. A small, hilly, wet village on the West coast of India tucked behind the hills, Agumbe is full of surprises. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. The landscape here keeps evolving on the basis of climate change. The forest is thick full of endemic flaura and fauna. It’s got several waterfalls because of the south west monsoon winds bring in heavy rainfall in this region almost throughout the year.
UDUPI Udupi is a small temple town on the West coast of India. This was our second destination after Agumbe. We visited the Krishna Temple in the heart of the town. This space was a mix of several colours, textures, religions and cultures. It was chaotic because of the large crowds and the multiple activities.
MALPE Malpe is a natural fishing port on the west coast of India. This was our third destination. This space was chaotic, messy, smelly, slimy, colourful, and loud. The dynamics of the space kept changing depending upon the hour of the day and the weather conditions. I was able to document the functioning of several gradients within the landscape such as the movement of the kites hovering above the market, the movement of baskets, the coming in and going out of the boat kept changing depending upon the availability of fish and so on.
ST MARYS St. Marys Island was a small island off the coast of Malpe famous for its tourist attractions. The only way to access this island was by a ferry. According to the stated history this island broke off from the Gondwana land mass and drifted towards India. It was a part of Madagascar. This island has huge laterite deposits. It mainly comprises of the laterite rock and coconut trees thus known as the coconut island as well. The sea water was behaved like an anchor and was actively/passively present in the functioning of a wide range of gradients.
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ITERATIONS FINAL PLOTS ABSTRACTION OF GRADIENTS NATURE OF GRADIENTS POINTS OF INTERDEPENDENCIES ABSTRACTION OF INTERDEPENDENCIES BASE PRINT ARTWORKS
CONSTRUCTION OF PLOT
ITERATIONS After coming back from the field trip we had to bring together all the data we had collected. We had to image something of the Western Ghats - an entity, entities, relation, processes, practice, community, phenomenon or system into our notations. This imaging served as lens through which we experienced the Western Ghats and a structuring device that helped us assemble our experience. During our field trip we traversed the line from the sea to the peaks of the Ghats, from the coast to the rainforest. We documented our experience through the lens we had constructed by different means videos, photography, sketches and other recordings On returning from the field trip we had to gather our traverse and assemble our experience. Using all this data the main aim was to design an intervention in the Western Ghats that responds to the conditions and initiates a transformation. This design had to involve programming and strategizing and if necessary siting. The intervention could take a form of a film, a game, a landscape, a law, a book etc.
The language of the lens used to look through at the Western Ghats is defined by gradients, interdependencies, infrastructure, intersections and directions. The aim was to design a structure/form using the images and data collected from the field trip that would help call out the language of the lens in the best possible way. I started with several sketches and iterations for constructing the form of the final plot.
FINAL PLOTS
AGUMBE
UDUPI
MALPE
ST . MARYS ISLAND
ABSTRACTION OF GRADEINTS Every plot has several gradients which are lying on the infrastructure. Each of these gradients have a certain distinctive nature. I used pen strokes to trace out the gradients which helped me understand the functioning and the nature of the gradients which would further define the layers of my fabrics.
ABSTRACTION OF GRADIENTS PLOT - Agumbe GRADIENT - The growth and stagnation of the white coloured fungus on the tree trunk because of the increase and decrease in the moisture levels.
NATURE OF GRADIENT The gradients had a distinctive nature each. After using pen strokes to abstract from the gradients I used these strokes to create patterns/ textures .These patterns and textures were then used in the making of the layers of the fabric. They were defining the nature/behaviour of the gradient.
NATURE OF GRADIENT PLOT - Agumbe GRADIENT - The growth and stagnation of the white coloured fungus on the tree trunk because of the increase and decrease in the moisture levels. NATURE - Increase and decrease , less to more , thick to thin
POINTS OF INTERDEPENDENCIES The points on the plot where the gradients intersected with the infrastructure were the points of interdependencies. These points of interdependencies were defining the gradients. The interdependencies were between different elements within the landscape.
POINTS OF INTERDEPENDENCIES PLOT - Agumbe INTERDEPENDENCY -The growth of the fungus is depended on the existance of moisture in the forest.The growth and stagnation varies depending upon several conditions within the rainforest.
ABSTRACTION OF INTERDEPENDENCY The gradients lie on the infrastructure in the plot . This gives rise to the possibility of interdependencies within the landscape.I used pen strokes to trace out the interdependencies seen through the plot. These strokes furthur helped me define the pattern of my base fabric.
ABSTRACTION OF INTERDEPENDENCY PLOT - Agumbe INTERDEPENDENCY - The growth of the fungus is depended on the existance of moisture in the forest . The growth and stagnation varies depending upon the several conditions in the rainforest ABSTRACTION - The point where the fungus and moisture interact has been abstracted
BASE PRINTS The base of the fabric was a combination of the pattern emerging out of the pen strokes of the interdependencies. Three to four patterns within a single plot were combined to form a common base pattern for that particular plot. The work done on each fabric differed depending upon the nature of the gradients
BASE PRINT PLOT - Agumbe INTERDEPENDENCY - The growth of the fungus is depended on the existance of moisture in the forest .The growth and stagnation varies depending upon the several conditions within the rainforest. ABSTRACTION - The point where the fungus and moisture interact has been abstracted. PRINT - This print was a common base for all the fabrics related to the Agumbe plot . It was a combination of the abstractions of all the interdependencies within the plot .
ARTWORKS Once the pattern of the gradients and the base prints were ready artworks were made for each interdependency marked on the plot . These artworks had a base print on top of which the gradients were placed
ARTWORKS PLOT - Agumbe INTERDEPENDENCY - The growth of the white fungus being interdependent on the availability of moisture in the rainforest. GRADIENT - The pattern of the growth and stagnation of the fungus on the tree trunk
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PAPER ITERATIONS MATERIAL COLOUR STRUCTURE ITERATIONS AND EXPLORATIONS WORK IN PROGRESS
CONSTRUCTION OF FABRIC
WHAT ARE THE WESTERN GHATS?
The Western Ghats are a layered fabric. The fabric on the base is defined by the interdependencies seen between the infrastructure and gradients within a landscape.
The layer on top of the base fabric is defined by the nature of the gradients observed within the landscape.
PAPER ITERATIONS I used paper to begin with the iterations. I tried achieving the desired textures through mixed media iterations. These pieces were not the final artworks. They were done to understand the texture of the landscape. They helped me in constructing the mood of my fabrics and achieving a color pallete.
MATERIAL
For the production of my textiles I chose to use Silk .Silk being a very versatile fabric can be manipulated in several ways. It can hold the dye colour well and make the textile look sophisticated. I created a fabric bank which consisted of different types of fabrics on the basis of their texture, shade, thickness, transparency, weave and weight. For every plot a set of 2 - 3 fabrics from this bank that fit perfectly into the kind of the gradient textiles that were to be made were used. I mostly used earth tones and then dyed them in the required colours and furthur constructed them.
COLOR PALATE There was a certain shift in the colours within the landscape while traversing from Agumbe - UdupiMalpe - St. Marys. I created a colour palate for my fabrics on the basis of the spectrum of colours documented during the field trip. I used these colours to recreate the Western Ghats as a spectrum of colours using fabrics as a medium.
STRUCTURE The Western Ghats to us is a gateway to the subcontinent in the path of the south west monsoon winds affording not just an understanding of a territory but a way of reimaging and reimagining India on the grounds of non – linear rain rather than rivers – Dilip Da Cunha. As per the satellite images and the structuring and formation of the Western Ghats the landscape has a certain gradient within itself. It moves from the lush green benevolent mountains of Agumbe – to the temple town of Udupi which is near the coast line – to the natural port of Malpe which is on the coast – to the Island of St. Marys which is a part of the landmass known to have separated from Madagascar millions of years ago. AGUMBE – UDUPI – MALPE – ST.MARYS This is the way the landscape is read today on the basis of its physical features. Through this project I am reading the landscape as a field of gradients. The four different types of landscapes that we traversed during our field trips are connected to each other through the gradients observed within the landscape. The final display is a spectrum of textiles representing these gradients.
Agumbe – the reveal and conceal of buttress roots on the forest floor.
St. Marys Island – the reveal and conceal of a sack being submerged in sand because of the wave coming in and going out.
St. Marys island – the fading away of the footprints on the sand.
Udupi temple – the fading away of the marks left behind by the chariot
Udupi temple – the movement of the dancer’s feet.
Malpe port – the movement of the birds in the sky
Malpe port – the cleaning of the fish spread on the floor.
ITERATIONS Since I was looking at the Western Ghats as layered textiles I explored with different kinds of layering techniques. The layers were used to bring out the interdependencies within the landscape by showing the connections between the infrastructure and gradients. Different techniques were used for exploring with the material.
SCREEN PRINT WITH EMBOSS PAINT
SCREEN PRINT WITH HAND EMBROIDERY
SCREE EMBRO
SCREEN PRINT WITH HAND EMBROIDERY
BLEACHING ON VELVET
APPLIQUE WITH HAND EMBROIDERY
APPLIQUE WITH COUCHING EMBROIDERY
SCREEN PRINT WITH FABRIC STUFFING
SCREEN PRINT LAYERED ORGANZA
LAYERED WITH
SCREEN PRINT LAYERED WITH ACID TORN NET
SCREEN PRINTED FABRIC CUT AND RE ORGANIZED
PATCHY DYED FABRIC WITH EMBOIDERY
SCREEN PRINTED ORGANZA
APPLIQUE
SCREEN PRINTED WITH EMBOSS PAINT
TIE AND DYE FABRIC WITH HAND EMBROIDERY
WORK IN PROGRESS
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PHOTOSHOOT TEXTILES - A SOCIAL MEDIUM REFLECTION BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
CONCLUSION
CROSSINGS OF THE GHATS Multiple waves keep coming in and going out. The movement of these small waves forms one big wave on the island. PLOT – St. Marys island INTERDEPENDENCY – The formation of one wave depended on the intersection of multiple waves. GRADIENT – The coming in and going out of the waves. NATURE OF GRADIENT - Irregular , building and breaking
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Silk organza DYEING – Hand painted with cold dyes EMBROIDERY – Couching with Eri silk yarn
THE BUTTRESS The roots of the trees in the rainforest spread out on the forest floor in search of moisture. In some parts the roots are closely knit and dense and in some parts sparse and far apart. PLOT – Agumbe INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the buttress roots spreading across the forest floor on the availability of moisture in the forest GRADIENT – The movement of the roots across the forest floor.
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Noil and Gicha silk TECHNIQUE – Laser cut and applique EMBROIDERY – Couching
THE BAZAAR The fish market had dead fish/waste fish fallen on the ground. People in the fish market had to position themselves around the fallen fish and make their own paths making sure they avoid stepping on the fish. PLOT – Malpe INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the movement of the people in the fish market on the fish fallen on the ground. GRADIENT – The movement of the people in the market.
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Taffeta and organza TECHNIQUE – Digital print and fabric layering EMBROIDERY – Machine embroidery with
DECAY The growth of fungus on the tree trunk depends on the availability of moisture in the rainforest. The levels of moisture vary in the rainforest depending upon the climate conditions. PLOT –Agumbe INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the growth of fungus on the moisture in the forest. GRADIENT – The growth of the fungus on the tree trunk.
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Gicha silk TECHNIQUE – Screen print with emboss paint EMBROIDERY – Couching with Eri silk yarn
THE PARTITION During the process of cleaning and segregating the fish a lot of it is cleared off the market ground. It is a gradual process and shows a shift in the mess. PLOT –Malpe INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the clearance of fish on the act of cleaning GRADIENT – The clearance of mess on the market ground.
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Taffeta Silk TECHNIQUE – Dyed with acid dyes and digital print EMBROIDERY – Machine embroidery
A TRAJECTORY The movement of the kites hovering over the fish market depends upon the availability of fish on the ground. The movement changes depending upon the time of the day. PLOT –Malpe INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the movement of the kites on the fish. GRADIENT – The trejectories formed by the kites in the sky.
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Taffeta Silk and organza TECHNIQUE – Dyed with acid dyes, laser cut and layered EMBROIDERY – hand stitched
IN AND OUT The wave brings along with it pebbles from the sea and with the next wave they are taken in again. There is a constant irregular movement of pebbles because of the moving in and out of the waves. PLOT – St. Marys Island INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of coming in and out of the pebbles on the waves. GRADIENT – The movement of the pebbles.
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Silk organza TECHNIQUE – Screen printed and heat set using marbles and a heat gun EMBROIDERY – no embroidery
THE SACK STORY The movement of the wave on the island reveals a few things and conceals a few. A sack being submerged on the island is hidden and revealed by the movement of the wave. PLOT – St. Marys Island INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the visibility of the sack on the movement of the wave GRADIENT – The visibility of the sack because of the coming in and going out of the wave.
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Silk organza TECHNIQUE – Screen print , fabric stuffing and applique EMBROIDERY – Hand and machine embroidery
LICHEN The lichen growns on the trees because of moisture being present in the rainforest. PLOT – Agumbe INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the growth of lichen on the availability of moisture on the tree trunk GRADIENT – The growth of lichen on the tree trunk
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Noil and Gicha silk TECHNIQUE – Tie and dye and Applique EMBROIDERY – bead work
VERMILLION TURMERIC Temple being a place of worship the stone used for constructing the temple was covered with vermillion and turmeric offered by the devotees to the deity. There was a gradient seen in the shades formed by the mixture of these two. PLOT – Udupi INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of formation of a new shade on the mixture of vermillion and turmeric. GRADIENT – The change in the shade of the new color depending upon the quantities of vermillion and turmeric mixed together
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Machine woven tussar silk TECHNIQUE – Hand painted with dyes, laser cut and layering EMBROIDERY – no embroidery
TRACES The Temple ground is scratched because of the daily movement of the chariot. The chariot leaves behind marks on the temple ground which fade away over a period of time and leave space for new ones. PLOT – Udupi INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the marks on the ground on the movement of the chariot GRADIENT – The gradient seen in the fading away of the marks on the temple grounds.
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Noil and tussar silk TECHNIQUE – Hand painted with dyes, laser cut and layering EMBROIDERY – machine embroidery
THE TEMPLE DANCE The Temple is famous for its classsical dance. The movement of the dancers feet depend upon the type of dance and the form of dance. PLOT – Udupi INTERDEPENDENCY – The dependence of the dancer’s feet on the form of dance GRADIENT – The gradient seen i.n the movement of the dancers depending upon how much of it is touching the ground
TECHNIQUE FABRIC – Noil and tussar silk TECHNIQUE – Hand painted with dyes, laser cut and layering EMBROIDERY – Hand embroidery
TEXTILES - A SOCIAL MEDIUM Textiles offer a great scope for collaboration of our lives with the landscape. We live in metropolitan cities far away from the forests. There is a strong urge seen in the general public to bring in nature into their homes and to stay connected to the forests. But how do people do this? They bring in plants into their homes or probably try and use herbal products. How else can one bring in the landscape directly into ones daily life? Textiles are something that are tangible and used by everyone in everyday life. It hence becomes a great canvas for one to convey political and social messages. Textiles can be used to push the ecological problems closer to one’s heart. Textiles have long played a symbolic and a practical role used to express several beliefs. What a person wears/uses has become a medium of communication for people who have something that they want the rest of the world to know It’s not entirely enough for one to know about the landscape in terms of its geography, history, science and other factual data. It begins with creating awareness amongst the general public about even just the existence of a landscape like the Western Ghats.
REFLECTION This project has been a growing experience for me as a designer and as a person. I feel like I’ve learnt a lot about the realities in a very short period of time. I am grateful to be a part of this project that has provided me with an opportunity of opening up a new lens to look through at the Western Ghats. This project has allowed me to analyse and study the landscape by using the lens I created and has pushed me to dig deeper into the realities. This project has allowed me to make my own decisions as a designer, while learning to remain ethical and sensitive to the ideas and notions made by people about the landscape. It has helped me be creative in reading the landscape in a way it has never been read before. It has allowed me to push myself to make a statement through fabrics as a medium. Through this project we interacted with landscape architecture students from Penn University, Philadelphia. It was a wonderful experience to work with a team of experts from different fields. It was helping us get new insights and ideas while crafting our concepts.n terms of my personal development this project and the people who were a part of it have motivated me to produce all that I am capable of and I do believe it has been a successful path in
terms of doing justice to the idea and lens created. It has taught me a great deal in terms of what I can achieve when I push myself and in terms of what I am capable of in a short amount of time. Apart from being a great learning experience it has also helped me reflect on the type of work I wish to do in the future, and question my own practice as a designer. I realize that the type of work that I am capable of isn’t going to create tides of change, and that’s alright. This is something I struggled with throughout my course, knowing that work I would be producing would in no way help save the landscape. But I feel that through this process of creating a lens for the scientists, biologists, historians, environmentalists etc. reading the landscape in a new way would be possible which could be in the interest of the wider public. I know that creating tides of change may not be immediately possible, but we are all capable in our own little way to cause tiny ripples of thought in the minds of the people who interact with the project.
BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS - Deccan traverses - Dilip D Cunha and Anuradha Mathur - Design in the terrain of water - Dilip D cunha and Anuradha Mathur - India’s Western Ghats - the Sahyadris - Sandesh Kadur - Konkan namma - Anonymous - Mississipi flood - Dilip D Cunha and Anuradha Mathur - How to be a travellor of the world - Keri Smith
FILMS AND DOCUMENTARIES - The agumbe rainforest and research station - The western ghats a dying heritage - Talk by prof Madhav Gadgil - What ails environmental governance in India.
ORGANIZATIONS - ARRS (Agumbe Rainforest and Research Station ) - NCBS ,Bangalore
PEOPLE - Dilip D cunha - Anuradha Mathur - People at ARRS - Facilitators at Srishti
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would not have been successful without the support and guidance of Geetha Narayanan - Director of Srishti school of Art, Design and Technology, and all those numerous people who are a part of the LED LAB at the Srishti who took the time to provide me with valuable feedback. First and foremost I would like to thank my mentors Deepta and Dilip for having faith in my idea and for having the patience to see it through its various stages of development. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions made by Aisha, Pitambar, Rustam, Kumar, Meera and Vivek as members of my assessment panel who took an interest in the development of this project. Further, thanks to all the people who were a part of the team at ARRS (Agumbe Rainforest Research Station) for taking good care of us and providing us with valuable information during our field trip.
I would like to especially thank Rita Singh and Sarita Nayar for helping me with the embroidery and in the production of my fabrics, as well as Girija aunty and all the other helpers for their valuable efforts in tailoring and finishing of my fabrics. Finally I would like to thank my parents Rajesh Singh and Sangeeta Singh who acted as pillars of strength and encouragement throughout. A special thanks to Advaith, Sanika, Henal, Priyanka and Sreemoyee for coming on this journey with me.