Launching a line of art work ( photo +) that deals with layers of materials and techniques, has done a few things to me and the way I approach my photography. It forces me to think accross disciplines. For the first time the image is also a starting point for a larger story. I am learning to see things accros a broad spectrum of things without compartmentalising.
Images objects and stories come together to make a memory.
In 2008, I curated a small object based exhibition that appropriated household objects from expat Indian homes based in Hongkong ( pictured below).
The experience of working with a large number of migrant families and their stories of movement, dislocation and nesting in a foreign country was eye opening. The power of the domestic space in defining identity and the immediacy of a possesion however small was a revelation. My fetish for objects and material goes farther back, but this small exhibition encouraged it tremendously.
There was an intense desire on my part at that stage to work with objects and possessions. I started collecting materials. Letters, postcards, photographs and the like.
With Photo plus that desire to curate across media has gradually taken shape. There is a long way to go yet.
Late last year it struck me to apply a simlar approach to the blog. Talking homes, decor, interiors and lives still, yet in different ways and definitely with more engagement with the subject.
I have made small beginings already. Today's post is yet another effort in more involved blogging.
A series of posts will follow suit.
Today, I pick a color based modboard for browns and blues.
A combination of the contrasting elements of the earth and sky creates unearthly poetry..It's chic, contemporary and timeless, all at the same time. Here is a little brown and blue from all over, other homes, closets, the Photo+ work table, some of my photography and my own home.
Will come back with more since there is a lot more to say, until then I hope this make sense...
Photo credit : Pinterest. Among a lot of wonderful oriental and Cuban interiors is also an outfit from my favourite designers, Payal Khandwala's previous collections. A big fan of her fantastic sense of color and a very boho take on cuts and styles.
A mood board created with an assemblage of color based objects, illustrations and photographs from my studio and home.
Details from the mood board..
An Arastan shop in shop at Goodearth, Raghuvanshi Mills.
Arastan. The Bangalore base home and artefact label is unfortunately closing down soon. [A post about them was among a long list of to do's which never got done for one reason or the other unfortunately.]
One of Jodhpur's many blue houses. The old quarter of the city is a symphony of blue and earth. Check out a more detailed post here.
When the dining table is off duty.
Browns and Indigo in the bedroom, plus and minus orange and rust as accent colors.
Hand built pottery in the kitchen.
Photography from Jodhpur livens up a mostly earth canvas of objects.
Finally a few images of a silk cushion I hand embroidered a while back from the archives..