Mapping of Yelahanka

The idea of doing this project was to go around Yelahanka, mapping out its different problems and accessibility issues pertaining to different age groups. We had to state how safe of unsafe public spaces and areas were for children, women, elderly people, and people who are physically disabled.

This project gave us a deeper understanding of issues that surround our everyday environment and if it were possible to eradicate these issues, how and what would we should do to go about it.

We realised that there were numerous places that were very unsafe and inaccesible to the neighbourhood. In fact almost all of Yelahanka is unsafe at night due to no/poor street lighting at night accompanied by the lonely neighbourhood after dark. 

Kite runner analysis

The novel/movie by Khaled Hosseini has based this movie on his own experiences, however the characters are fictional.

The movie starts off with Amir’s happy childhood days under the peaceful and affluent era of King Zahir Shah’s reign, a time when Amir and his friend, Hassan, could themselves feel like kings of Kabul. As Hassan was a Hazara boy, he was looked down upon and harassed by local bullies frequently. Hassan was the young servant boy of Amir who's farther Ali had been serving the family for years. However, Amir and Hassan were the best of friends. Internal conflicts occur when Amir, who enjoys Hassan’s friendship but is also jealous of him, starts to realise that he might not be good enough in his father's eyes, as Hassan is. Amir was never able to stand up for himself and Hassan was always doing so for him. His timid behaviour infuriated his father and begged him to believe something was wrong with amir. He feels like his father hates him for killing his mother during childbirth and will never be able to live upto his expectations. Hence, he felt like his only way to prove his worth to his father was to win the Kite runner tournament. However, after winning the tournament a making his father proud, Hassan willingly agrees to run the kite for him. Amir goes out searching for Hassan a while later and finds him cornered by the bullies who ended up raping him, which Amir ails to prevent creating a pivotal scene. Hassan walks out the alley way in pain but does not speak a word of it to anyone; not even to Amir. However, Amir feels like Hassan is being a coward.
Hassan and his father end up leaving the family a while later. The Russian invasion turns Kabul into a war zone, forcing many residents, including Amir and his father, to escape to Pakistan and later to The United States. Even after the Russians had left the country, the unrest had continued. The Talibs had come to power and destroyed everything the people ever knew about Kabul. 
Later into the movie, Amir learns that Hassan is actually his brother. Hassan and his wife, who were shot by the Taliban and is now dead has a son named Sohrab who is now an orphan. This part of the movie shows the gap between the legal system and the human rights of orphans as victims of war -a theme evoking the import of human rights across international boundaries. Amirs change in character during the second part of the story is very opposite to that which was portrayed when he was a boy. He makes sure he stands up for not only something he believes in, but also to save Hassan's son Sohrab and give him a better life. 
Hosseini succeeds in striking the right balance between tragic emotion and optimism. The novel’s complex plot consists of several conflicts that evoke sympathy for characters who are unjustly victimised. It is a powerful story about two boys whose friendship is threatened by deception and betrayal yet withstands the pressures of cultural barriers and legal boundaries. Their childhood memories of happy days outlast their tragic separation, and the steadfast loyalty of Hassan defines the theme of this novel as one of true friendship.

Wall painting

One of our assignments given to us was representing the idea of "body" through a wall painting in the N3 campus basement.

The main elements that we have used in this painting are:

1. The jellyfish
The motive and deeper understanding of using a jellyfish to represent a body was because jellyfish are one amongst a few other creatures that do not that a fixed skeletal structure.

2. The baby
The portrayal of a baby still inside the womb (the jellyfish) as an element in the painting was meant to represent the birth of new life that has a fixed structure and limitations inside something that does not i.e. our universe (as our universe has no limitations).

3. The cubes
The cubes in our painting symbolically represent the basic building blocks of everything.

Now if we analyse all these elements together as one whole picture, there is a stark contrast of the ideas that the jellyfish, human body and cubes portray. The contrasting ideas of fluidity versus rigidity has been represented. Also, the idea of a mortal being growing inside something immortal makes the viewer think deeper into this. Us mortal human beings are living inside an immortal, limitless, and never ending universe (which is a body that makes up EVERYTHING).
The idea of "body" has been perceived differently by different people and hence the contrasting ideas.

Indian Styles of Painting

Gond Paintings 

This form of tribal art is based on nature and wildlife. The paintings are geometrical and very brightly colored.

Kalamkari Paintings

The color scheme used is red, maroon and yellow. Their paintings mainly depict the Gods and a few animals.

Mughal Miniature Jahangir 

These paintings are mainly portraits of Jahangir itself. They're a lot similar in comparison to those of Akbar's. 

Malwa Paintings 

The use of the color red and yellow is very prominent. They portray scenarios in and around the palace.

Deccani Paintings 

The colors used are slightly dull in comparison to the rest. A lot of of dull greens are used.

Jaunpur Paintings 

These paintings are very architecture-based, and the colors used are not too bright. 

Shekawati Paintings

A lot of intricate designs and patterns are used. The use of the color maroon is very prominent. 

Bundi Paintings 

These paintings are based on dancing women with long, flowing skirts. 

Kishangarh Paintings 

These paintings depict humans - either singularly or as a couple. A lot of blues and greens are used. 

Mysore Paintings 

Attention to detail when it comes to human features and cloth patterns is seen. There's high usage of the colors red and gold. 

Tanjore Paintings 

These paintings depict different Hindu Gods. They all have plain-colored backgrounds and a lot of the color gold is used.

Jain Patachitra 

Use of bright colors is seen. All these paintings have framed patterns. Gods are depicted, and very intricate patterns are used.

Buddhist Thangka Paintings

Buddha is depicted in every painting. A lot of circular forms are used. There are vibrant colors used in every painting. 

Ajanta Vakataka Paintings 

These are cave paintings which portray human figures. Dull colors are used. 

Kerala Mural Paintings 

Intricate paintings with a lot of use of the color red. These paintings depict Gods. The human figures are very curvy. 

Odisha Pattachitra  Paintings

These paintings are bordered with intricate patterns and designs. 

Kalighat Paintings 

A very subtle color scheme is used. Most of the pictures comprise of female figures. The backgrounds are blank. 

Jamini Roy Paintings 

These pictures depict cartoon-like human figures. Dull colors are used in the paintings. 

Company Paintings 

These are very realistic looking paintings depicting scenes from olden times. Mild colors are used.

Gulam Mohammed Sheikh Paintings

These paintings are very vibrant and colorful. They're also very abstract. 

Bhupen Khakhar Paintings 

Modern art depicting men. The color blue is used a lot. 

Ramesh Kalkur

His paintings deal a lot with the human body. 

GIF

Analysing the work of Barbara Kruger and Marina Abramovic

What is art?

For me, art is a form of expressing oneself through different mediums (digital, manual, through paintings etc.). Art is a very relative term and each person has a different perspective when it comes to defining the term "art" itself. To one person, art may be just random splashes of paint or squiggles of lines made into a masterpiece, but to a lay man, they will just remain random splashes and squiggles.

Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist. She is a feminist and uses the techniques of mass communication and advertising to explore gender and identity. Black and white pictures with a bold red caption is her signature style. Although a lot of her pictures do not have much to do with the caption, nor are they visually spectacular, they are inspirational. 




  

This is one of Barbara's works which I particularly liked. It quotes "This masterpiece is just a part we portray". What she tries to put across is that pictures only capture a few seconds of your life and there's always a flip-side to the story. 

In the second picture, Barbara being a feminist believes that gender is irrelevant. Living in today's society, we fight for the equality of man and woman. Of course, men are assumed to be the ones physically stronger, but anything and everything a man can do; a woman can do too. 

Barbara's  art is very bold and the contrast of colors help her put across her point and hence is an important artist of today's day and age. 

Marina Abramovic 

Marina Abramovic is a Serbian performance artist based in New York. The key of her performances are the involvement of the audience in her act. 

I honestly felt that her performances were rather drastic and depressing. As she had a depressing childhood, the feelings and emotions she repressed at that young age has turned her into the person that she is today and is incorporated in her work. 

Modernised Aesthetics of an Ancient God

Hermes:
Hermes is the Greek God of transition and boundaries and is the messenger of the Gods. He is the son of Zeus and Maia. Hermes moves between the worlds of the Mortal and the Divine.
Greek mythology is known through Greek literature and representations on visual media. It dates back to 900-800 BC.

The Hermes I created is a modernised version; wearing modern apparel such as a shirt, a pair of shorts and sunglasses. He is seen to be carrying an iPhone (since he is the messenger of the Gods) and he is also seen to be holding his staff - the Caduceus - which represents who he is as this is something he has been carrying since the beginning of his time.