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Tactile Storytelling + Space + Narrative

Dear Old Friend,

A tactile journey through time and space

DURATION:

Mar- Apr 2019

SKILLS:

Contextual Inquiry, Craft, Philosophy, Storytelling, Narratives

TEAM:

Individual

‘Dear Old friend,’ is a collection of images and explorations split intothree volumes. These explorations are in relation to a space I regularly visited over the span of the past few weeks.I believe that a space is not only the physical attributes that differentiate one space from another but the sum total of everything experienced there, all perceived about the space, the people that occupy it, the thought and sentiment that reside suspended within the space and more. So, in order to represent the space, I would need suitable representations for each of the aforementioned elements and that is what ‘Dear Old friend,’ tries to encompass. ​

Space Chosen

SFS Siddhi Vinayaka Temple, near Harsha bakery, 400 meters from Srishti N5 Campus, 7th Cross Road The space is a small park in a residential area near my college and home. Not only was it full of trees and plants, it housed a small temple which the locals frequented. The project fell during a difficult time of my life, and I had been told that temples and spiritual spaces have good energy. If I had to spend hours in a place, thought I might as well give it a try.

Taking inspiration from the concept of the Johari Window, I have made this book as a reflection of the many layers of a space; the visible to all, the known by some, the felt and the unknown.​Making use of transparent sheets, I intend to exhibit the different layers and how one thing builds adds on to another to create a whole. Almost all of these explorations have been done while spending time in the context and find their roots in things I felt or saw or experienced in the moment, like snapshots in time. 

The material is used to my advantage to add a tactile element through puncturing and burning and folding. I have also stuck some objects from the space such as a dried fig, soil, match sticks etc, on the surface of the pages.

The narrative that ties these snapshots together into a coherent followable piece of work is  born out of the things I wrote while spending time in my chosen space. Inconsistent in terms of style and message, the tone  changes from distant and descriptive to intimate and introspective just like my state of mind when I spend time in the space.

 

Although, on the surface it is one of my sorties into the park, it is wrapped around many smallsecrets and undertones and leaves much to the readers’ interpretation.The book is read the other way, from the back to the front which exhibits, through action, the building of experience and its contribution to theoverall image about the space in question. 

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