I was here

Museum displays reflected on people-
Encasing the mundane in constructed
boxes. The lines have been washed.
Trying out permanent and impermanent
inks to see what remains.




Rotring and gauche




Rotring and gauche




Digital

His Story

This is my first animatic:





A look at history from two angles:
the artifacts at a museum and that which is
passed down from one generation to the other,
this is the first cut,the music is from Kabir,
a 15th century mystical poet captured in this
brilliant documentary by Shabnam Virmani called:
Chalo Hamara Des

Playing at the Museum

For my animation, I am trying to simplify the museum,
from the glass cabinets to the people. I don't want to
make the images too complicated because it will get
difficult to animate in the restricted time, this limitation
is actually proving to challenge my comfort zone in
image making.

I am taking ink impressions on paper, which are the
people who visit the museum. I like the way the ink
gradually becomes an incoherrent shape and vanishes,
like our transient nature.



glass cabinets:




The famous Mummy, surrounded by our curiosity:



I am playing with the artifacts on people. Sometimes the
glass cabinets create interesting links between the visitor
and the exhibit.


Our heritage has two parts- the tangible and the intangible.
The tangible is what is encased in glass cabinets in the
museum. The intangible is what is passed on from one
generation to the other-through different media of storytelling.
My experience of the museum has made me realize how
obsessed we have become with collectibles. I want to look
into the songs of Kabir, the Sufis, or the Baul which I feel
form a connection to what I want to say especially in the
museum space. The traveling bards in India, that form our almost
disappearing folklore culture have been around for centuries.
Their songs talk about establishments that encase mute statues.
The statues do not speak. But around the statues, are wonderful
stories unfolding. The stories that are live, the stories that become
us. The stories that die and are reborn again.

Could someone help me regarding this? I was trying to find songs
of Kabir, but unfortunately haven't found much response from the
people I mailed to. If you have any folksong that you like, mail
me! I will show you my animatics and you can tell me what
you think of it.