Intervals, Llano del Rio

This year (2014), Craftswoman House in partnership with Hinterculture organized an event called “Squaring the Circle” to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Llano del Rio Cooperative Colony, a utopian socialist colony established in 1914 by Job Harriman, in Southern California’s Antelope Valley. The desert, as it always seems to do – proved to be a place to start anew, the barren lands allowed for new and radical thought and the cooperative was established as a social experiment, to give its people an authentic understanding of a socialist way of life.My interest in this project stemmed from the need for a more “morally conscious economy” that is based on personal values. In an evolving culture that finds itself constantly reevaluating its values, the proposition of an ethics driven society today, is a difficult task. This project encouraged a personal experience in a communal space. ‘Viewfinders’ were provided at certain vantage points for the viewer to look through and compose an image of their choice, within the given parameter of the size of the slot. This process also assisted in fragmenting the complex totality of vision, which at times muddles our perceptions and hinders our capacity to adapt and transform. A focus on individual images, values and ideas nurture an inclusive society, as opposed to one that assigns gender roles for people and flounder in preconceptions. The remains in Llano Del Rio stand as a strong voice, attesting to inclusivity.

The Mansion at Strathmore, Rockville

My interest in paradoxes that manifest as objects, events, spaces or places is explored through a dual existence of a grotto that is found on the grounds of the Mansion at Strathmore. It occupies a very particular position at Strathmore, one that is both physical and conceptual at the same time. While this coral structure exists physically in the backyard, it also exists conceptually as a reminder of what the mansion’s function was (home to the Sisters of the Holy Cross)  at one point in time, leaving a trace of its open history. The meaning this grotto once held is de-contextualized and forgotten while the Mansion itself has transformed and adapted to different functions.

The installation re-contextualizes the grotto by integrating the drawings into the architecture at Strathmore, giving it a new meaning by way of adaptation, intervention and interaction with different elements including the window structure, the sky and landscape in the background and the architecture on the inside and the outside.

 

Recurrence

This work is a study that informs the ideas of ‘recurrence’ -of images and places – and continuity. The small drawings inform each other: they are traced from each other, opposites of each other and transformed as a result of this information from each other. Work done at the IHC in Delhi, India.

Works at the IHC sponsored by the Welcare Hospital, Kochi.

Power House Road at IHC

The work at Power House Road was transformed and adapted to fit the nondescript spaces at the India Habitat Centre’s Experimental gallery. The source images acted as points of origin for this work. A balance between the temporal parts (that would only remain in documentation) and the nomadic parts (drawings that would be transportable) and the transformation of the temporal parts, became ideas for further exploration.

Works at the IHC sponsored by the Welcare Hospital, Kochi.

MAP at Towson Commons

2004.

As part of the continued research in adaptation and transformation, the installation at MAP was transformed in this installation to adapt to the Towson Commons space. The framed drawings of pipes are to scale of the original installation at the MAP. Drawn lines on the wall at times extend into space, taking the form of a thread. The installation responded to the space and was dismantled after the exhibition.