WW5: Ah, Motherland!

In 1998 I moved from Bangalore, India to Atlanta, Georgia to study Communication Design at the Atlanta College of Art. The transition from curry to BBQ was tough, but I soon learned the value of acclimation and tempered my studies with a healthy dose of Americana. At ACA, I focused my studies on graphic design and printmaking.

With a BFA in hand, and up for an adventure, I drove across the country to San Francisco, where I became a collateral and brand designer. A few years later, I headed back across the country once again, this time to pursue a master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at Tisch School of the Arts, NYU, where I specialized in human/object interaction and sensory design.

I currently work as an Interaction Designer in New York, using web, print and mobile electronics to explore the connectivity and psychology of design. I also work with wearable technology, designing objects that interact with daily life, form addictions and provide comfort.

ArtCV

Basic Circuit Schematic:

The solar cell is connected to a diode, switch to an LED with a capacitor to store the electricity.

Embedding solar cells by replacing the mirrors

Breaking up the mirrors

Odhni plays a significant role in this conversation of multiple worlds. The current environmental distress defines meeting and maybe even melding of cultures. My personal interest in seeing what it takes to harness enough energy to bring light into a house intrigues me. Having come from a country where we all studied under candle light because of the forewarned “load shedding” that occurred on a daily basis, to one where the whole economy comes to a grinding halt when there is a black out makes this piece curious. Through this work I try to develop a narrative between the east and the west, between the “haves” and the “have nots” and a natural flow of giving back to an old land, stripped of all its natural resources. The added narrative of women performing this act also goes back to the roles played in nurturing and providing for the home.

Natural Fuse

This is some amazing work that I came across today.

“Critical design uses designed artifacts as an embodied critique or commentary on consumer culture. Both the designed artifact (and subsequent use) and the process of designing such an artifact causes reflection on existing values, mores, and practices in a culture.” – WIKIPEDIA

Anthony Dunne – Hertzian Tales

Fiona Raby – Designing Interactions

Usman Haque – Video

IMAGE RESEARCH

My immigrant experience has been to shed the preconceived social norms of the east and embrace the freeform creativity of the west. These past 12 years of being in the US have coincided with the age of high speed connectivity, making the world a global village. Technology consumed me, not just as an extension of communication, but as an extension of my body. Embedding it in everyday actions, creating a contiguous space between Brooklyn and Bangalore and grasping its socio-evironmental impact was the initial inspiration for Odhni, a handmade garment that gathers solar energy as women walk miles to gather water.

Odhni is a piece of clothing worn by women in rural India. The garment largely serves as a veil, a “direct extension of the outer surface of the body” as well as a shield from the sun when making long pilgrimages to fetch water. This piece of cloth holds many cultural significances as it marks respect and honor of women by covering their head and eyes, a long standing tradition from Mughal India. The Odhni forces the wearer to adopt a notion of anonymity and invisibility forcing a conversation between the exterior and interior, and public and private.

Taking this very structurally simple but socially complex garment and layering it with the ability to harness solar power, the Odhni can empower its wearer. Women form the economy of a household in India. Though not socially powerful, women are very much the nourishers and providers in a family. Gathering energy when they go out to collect water is a natural progression to the running of their households. I am very interested in these private experiences that take place on the larger public stage.