Basavanagudi Live Art Project performed at footpath next to
Ramakrishna Math, 2014
"We need open minds and
open hearts when we wrestle with the past and ask questions of it, and the
answers it will provide are in nobody's pocket…We should let nobody tell us
that they know all that it contains, or try to prescribe or constrain in
advance what it has to tell us" - Eamon Duffy, "Faith of our
Fathers".
This was my first performance for Basavangudi Project, this performance was about forgotten faces/looking back into important era, a period development of this area from days of its origin. The foundation laid down by great personalities. Remembering their contribution towards development of this area and overall society and looking at the transition over the decades and looking at the present issues connecting past and present.
Since it was first Intervention for this area, I wanted to flip the past to present and introduce my audience with cultural and heritage aspects of one of oldest area of Bangalore. In this performance I dealt with historical aspect of this area, people and issues of senior citizens. Through this performance my attempt was not only to introduce images of famous personalities of the area but also wanted senior citizens to come out and share their bit of past with us who were witness to that era. This was done by myself performing with costume of old time Jubba, Panche and Mysore Peta, my face was covered with black cloth metaphorically representing forgotten personalities and their contributions.
I was also carrying in my hand custom
made umbrella with images of famous personalities which metaphorical represented that we are under their shades and also I
circulated one post card with above quotation to audiences and during the performance I interacted with audience
questioning whose image it was and circulated copies of photos of famous
personalities with their names on it, which audiences were suppose to take with
them and dig into the history about them. In this process, to my surprise one senior
citizen came out with enthusiasm and shared his experience and story of his time
and also sang and narrated shloka. This performance was an attempt to reach all kinds of audience, from college students to local people, like auto driver, working women, senior citizens etc.
Dimple B Shah
Dimple B Shah
2014
Awsome idea! Great work. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThank you Key Design and Creative Center :)
ReplyDelete