“A MIMICRY OF NATURE’S ARCHIVAL SYSTEM…”
Action 4 called for exploring the broader contexts. Looking back at action 3, I decided to map out all the places I went for it and the places surrounding those places. In action 3, I realized that though I did go outside and interact with people, I never interacted with nature. I decided to go to the garden near my house to start my interaction with nature. While I was there, I decided to collect all the things that had fallen to the ground that I found interesting.
I went back home with all the leaves, seeds and flowers I picked up and laid them out. Then I hit a road block at this point. I didn’t know what to do with what I found so I decided to come back to this later. The garden was perhaps not the best place to experience nature as it’s a human constructed version of nature with the experience already laid out for you.
I looked back at my map and decided to revisit the street food stall where I put my sticker survey in action 3. This stall sells vada pav, a batter fried spiced mashed potato ball in between bread with several chutneys. It’s meant to be eaten quickly or on the go, ideal for the average Mumbaikar who is always busy and has some place to be.
When I thought about it, it’s such a well thought through snack for people in a city that have no time to wait around. You could hold it with one hand, the chutneys is soaked up by the bread so nothing drips out but the flavor is maintained, the batter fry adds a crunchy element and doesn’t allow heat to escape from the filling which is made from potato which makes for a substantial snack. Plus it only takes a minute to make since everything is prepared beforehand.
I bought some vada pav and went to the garden to eat. The lady at the stall constructs the vada pav in front of you. She first tears the bread halfway then adds the wet chutney then the dry chutney and then finally the batter fried mashed potato ball which she then wraps in newspaper if you want it to go.
The one I had wasn’t the best vada pav but a bad vada pav is still a pretty good vada pav. It was salty, minty, garlicky with a slight spice from the mashed potatoes and crunch from the batter fry. The lady at the stall didn’t want the picture of her stall taken so I decided to make diagrams to break down what the stall looks like and the construction and packaging of the dish itself.
I found the use of newspaper as packaging amusing due to my personal relationship with the newspaper. I used to work in an ad agency where a lot of my work involved print media, namely newspaper ads. I used to make dozens of newspaper ads week after week, sometimes working overtime or spending nights at work to make sure it’s perfect for print the next day. It was humbling to say the least to see a medium that was such a major part of my job as what was essentially a disposable plate.
The use of newspaper was especially interesting when I thought about India’s relationship with the newspaper. It was interesting to see the newspaper still being circulated but stripped of its original purpose. Since Independence, newspapers have always the dominant medium for spreading information and it still is. Almost every household has a subscription to several newspapers. It’s a fast and cheap way to get your daily news. While the digital space is certainly growing rapidly in India with the advent of cheap smartphones and data, the newspaper has already established a wide reach.
But ever since COVID-19, print production has stopped in India. The halt of newspaper production is a concerning issue since the newspaper was a lot of people’s only source for accurate information. Now there is a lot of reliance on word of mouth and digital spaces such as whatsapp and social media where accountability and fact checking has always been an issue even before COVID-19. This has spread a dearth of misinformation throughout the country about COVID-19 and other issues.
While I was packing (I was moving out), I was rummaging through my closet and I found the first two ads that I ever made that went into production. For my making, I decided to go full circle and use these newspaper clippings to make a plate.
Originally, I was going to papier mache the paper and mold it to an existing plate but during the peer engagement (loved that discussion with the class), Melanie brought out an interesting point of the form of a plate and the kind of information it stores. Is the plate as we know it a Euro-centric idea of a plate (Helvetica as a plate, as Melanie put it)? And then Charles brought up how in rural India, leaves are used as plates. These conversation got me to rethink the form and making the plate.
First, I thought about the making of a plate. The use of hands, the potter’s wheel, the circular motions. Second, the leaf plate got me thinking about material and how its origins from nature. Newspaper also comes from trees which led me to think about tree rings. Tree rings are so interesting because it is like a tree’s archival system and which are often circular in nature. You can tell its age and the changing climate. The newspaper is also a archive but of human history which led me to think how can I meld these thoughts of circles, tree rings and newspaper into my plate which led me to the below creation.
The purple and green areas are the first newspaper ads I ever made. I used 1.5 cm wide strips and arranged them in a spiral/circular format to make the plate. It took about 2.5 days and a whole newspaper. It’s rough and uneven. It’s surprisingly sturdy even though it’s made of very thin paper. It’s interesting how I can spot which parts are images and which are words by looking at the coloring. A mimicry of nature’s archival system using a human archival system.
I feel that after the peer engagement and this action I really need to rethink what my idea of nature is and how I situate my work. Thoughtout my actions, I have truly never explored the idea of nature. Louise brought up a really beautiful point that we have this perceived notion of nature that has to do with greenery and forests when nature is also the breeze that blows on your face or the heat of the sunlight you feel on your back. How do I rethink my perceptions of nature? How do I intergrate nature into my thoughts and process?
Zahra also brought up an interesting notion of my actions being a protest. It’s funny because I never thought of it as a protest just a very personal journey but I am questioning certain established ideas so that is probably protest. If I look at my future actions as a protest, will the way I perceive and create change?