WW5: Ah, Motherland!

I find myself to be a fusion of east and west. Born and raised in India and moved to Chicago to study and later settle down with my husband, making America my new home. As days go by, I am trying to re-create, re-mold, re-visit my identity and the concept of ‘home’.

For ah Motherland! project, I am using my mother’s wedding saris from the 70’s to
create something new, western and personal for myself.
I am draping a simple pleated dress as a back drop in Ivory and black. Over that I have draped my mother’s sari that represents my culture and heritage; that can be worn several different ways, representing the adaptive/blending nature of an immigrant.

I think the salt piece is about crossing borders, the dissolving of one into the many. In the context of Ah, Motherland! it draws upon the varied “immigrant” experiences of the viewer to set the context for the action that will (slowly) occur. So the viewer may be seen as the informant to what this change is, what it means.

And as for an artist with a different cultural background, I’ve been thinking of the work of James Turrell. Even though he is not a her, I’d ask him:

1. How do you keep exploring the same concepts without making the same work every time?

2. What are you currently reading?

Great first meeting, wonder women!

Following is our first question for discussion. We’ll address it in relationship to the weekly assignment (Narratives on Immigration) on the 24th. In which way(s) does your proposed project speak to the “Immigrant Experience”?

Feel free to briefly share what you understand by such as well as by “American Identity” and how it may relate (or not) to what wish wish to accomplish within the next 5 weeks.

Please remember that our main goal here is to create a forum in which you may relate theoretical concepts to your visual work, so feel free to bring up additional questions that may also help other group members dig in a little deeper. And don’t forget to have fun with it!

In SOULidarity,
Renata