- dead beat: meat market. people working there, so comfortable. found quite beautiful. thrown out after 20 mins bc close to election time. meat is political in india. putting people out of business. as a woman easier to film not threatening
- Waterstone: made film in washing laundry / flower trail: economy around flowers. cut flowers/plucked flowers. make colours. graveyard. dismantled. short life span of flowers. people pay a lot of money for flowers that die soon. farmers that plant the best long stemmed red roses for Europe Valentine’s Day.
- in krishna’s mouth: people make big floats and parade in city square all night long. people who work on decorative are mostly muslim. didn’t think she’d set out to have a political point of view but with every encounter see what’s going on. communities are always divided by politics.
- banquet: pigs. extremely sensitive and very affectionate. after cutting film, became about working with pigs not pigs themselves. class: of born in a certain class there’s no way of moving up the lowest class of workers. both pigs and the workers are captive. tell the story but story’s not hers. important to show them what she does as well. trying to break the barrier in society. people don’t usually have engagement with lower class.
- impediment: water, festival: work day. ritual practice: everybody who has the statue immerses it in water. before the idols were made of clay and it would dissolve in water. totally transformed when right wing government comes in. the statue becomes big (plaster). or roots and bound together but paint on it toxic. make a pond just for immersing. toxic. what people don’t see is the people who clean up the pond. the figure that is supposed to dissolve, comes up like a corpse. Ganesha known for removal as obstacle, but becomes obstacle himself. the film made people angry. put film where she filmed it. failed public screening, people not interested after ritual. perhaps screen before.
- art college, conservative neighbourhood, didn’t like the students, would be in fights with cops at night.
- patterns: put flowers on in front of their houses, engagement with families. changed the way people living in the neighbourhood and the students. knowing = sense of security and comfort. make life a bit easier. made loop of video, usually on the floor in galleries. Also showed to neighbours
- her neighbourhood suddenly filled with shops/restaurant. battle against/ plan of action. drag them to court. they changed the law instead. any business could function on a road more than 29 feet.
- sense of not belonging since she born in south of India but didn’t grow up there, but her work gives her sense of belonging because she goes into the spaces.
- this work is still her work even though it’s all collaborative with the communities. can’t also not take responsibility. working with moving image. so much skill to manipulate things, huge responsibility. what is the truth you want to tell. not less of her work.
The artists engages a lot with the community back home in India. The thing she said about not feeling like she belonged where she was born resonated with me. When she went back and engaged with the community and environment there, she felt like she belonged, which is what her art does for her.