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Artful Avenues

Jelly-mongers Explore Edible Experiences

July 12, 2011

Neon Jelly Chamber inspired by Napoleon’s head chef, Antonin Carême

I was recently introduced to the culinary capers of British foodsmiths Bompas & Parr. They create fine jellies, craft bespoke jelly moulds and curate immersive food installations. Obscuring the boundaries between food and art, I was also intrigued at their deep interest in the historical and cultural context of the subject of their fanciful creations.

“We are working hard to restore jelly to its culinary throne… Jelly is magical: it has the ability to make people laugh hysterically, is loaded with nostalgia and best of all, can taste wild. OK, we’re not giving a sermon here – but you get the idea: jelly rocks… Bompass & Parr has always been about creating culinary projects that explode people’s pre-conceived notions of food.” – from B&P’s Jelly

Recreation of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral

Bompas & Parr projects have often taken an architectural lens on food construction – with one of this playful pair having training in architecture. However their often light-hearted and quivering formations are underpinned by a rigor in culinary crafts of the highest order. In 2008 designers and architects were invited to create interpretations of their buildings or design style which Bompass & Parr offered to make jellies from. They used 3D printers to fabricate plastic moulds and displayed their array of colourful constructions at the Architectural Jelly Banquet of the London Festival of Architecture – which culminated in a impromptu and impassioned jelly fight.

Elsewhere the self confessed jelly-mongers and experience-extenders have devised a scratch ‘n’ sniff event for Peter Greenaway’s The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover which was introduced by the director, the Architectural Punchbowl in which a building was flooded with four tonnes of punch and guests ferried across it in rafts to indulge in further edible & quaffable revelry – and an expansive glowing jelly installation for San Francisco’s MOMA.

Flicking through their book – we were captivated by their black and gold leaf prosseco funeral jellies, elderflower and summer fruit wedding jellies and even a coffee & tobacco jelly. It inspired us to give jelly-making a go with a some handy tips from B&P. We even visited a local second hand store to scour for interesting mould-making shapes – which turned up gems like lemon squeezers and old-style cut glasses.

We dabbled in passionfruit and champagne layered jellies, suspended jelly-beans set in fluted glass moulds and even managed a flaming currant jelly which we set alight with a dash of vodka. The pick of the bunch though was jasmine tea set on top of pomegranate – with a lustful quiver and heart-throb glow:

Note: Sadly I didn’t have my full camera kit on me this weekend so have had to go with what I could manage on my iPhone. But check out Bompas & Parr’s Jelly book if you get the chance – the photography will get you salivating as much as their flavorsome follies.

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Old City, New Film

January 16, 2011

© Patang – Kushi Productions

Many of you know I’ve been photographing the Uttarayan kite festival in India for a number of years now. While teaching at the National Institute of Design (NID) for a couple of years from 2005, I lived close to the action in Ahmedabad’s Old City. This week I was back there for the chaos, colour and celebration of the annual festival. My visit was made even more special as I attended a warmly hosted private screening of the superb film Patang which will officially premiere in at the Berlin Film Festival next month.

Patang (Hindi for ‘kite’) is set in the Old City where a family duels, spins and soars like the countless kites in the skies above. During it’s poetic journey, the film weaves together the stories of six people transformed by the energy of India’s largest kite festival. When a successful Delhi businessman takes his daughter on a trip back to his childhood home for the festival, an entire family has to confront its own fractured past and fragile dreams. With naturalistic performances from actors (Seema Biswas, Nowaz, Sugandha Garg) and non-actors alike – bold, lyrical editing, vibrant cinematography and a kinetic score – Patang enchants the senses and nourishes the spirit.

Patang features three interwoven stories. Image of kite-string paste by yours truly.

The seeds for Patang were planted in 2005, when script-writer and director Prashant Bhargava’s travels to Ahmedabad coincided with Uttarayan. “When I first witnessed the entire city on their rooftops, staring up at the sky, their kites dueling ferociously, dancing without inhibition, I had to make this film.” He returned for the next three years, documenting his experiences with over a hundred hours of video footage. Slowly immersing himself in the ways of the Old City, he became acquainted with its unwritten codes of conduct, its rhythms and secrets. Prashant would sit on street corners for hours at a stretch taking in the nuances of daily life. Over time he connected with shopkeepers and street kids, gangsters and grandmothers. This process formed the foundation for developing the characters and story. As he began writing, Prashant realised that capturing the spirit of the festival and the city – its beauty and flow, joy and strength – would require multiple narratives. And so Patang found its shape as three interwoven stories centering on a family that reunites for the kite festival. Patang’s message and cinematic style developed organically from the deep roots of life in the Old City. Prashant reflects: “The sense of poetry and aesthetics became less of an imposed view and more of one that emerged from the pride, the people, the place.”

One of my stills, shot in Ahmedabad’s Old City, from Patang’s opening sequence.

Some of my photographs were featured in the title sequence – but Prashant far surpasses my efforts to capture the flavour, festivities and texture of Uttarayan during the film. I was especially proud to hook up the production crew with my über-talented former student Satya Rajpurohit of the Indian Type Foundry, who’s multi-lingual typeface also features in the opening titles. I managed to join Patang’s crew, actors and friends on a fabulously located rooftop during Uttarayan this week as the sun set and the sky filled with kites followed by floating lanterns and fireworks. An upbeat track from the film ended up on high rotation and I’d pick that it will be a city-wide hit during the festival’s quintessential rooftop musical rivalry next year.

From the Patang rooftop this week. Photo by yours truly.

While the sun went down on yet another Uttarayan, my head was filled with rich memories from the Patang shoot, reflections on the film itself and thoughts of the Old City where my forefathers lived and loved.

Disclosure: I previously dated Prashant for 2 years, across 5 cities and 3 continents. Most likely that makes me a tad biased – though I’m sure those of you who manage to catch the film in upcoming months will surely appreciate his achievements.

Related posts:
Uttarayan Kite Festival (Flickr)
High Flyers of Gujarat (The Guardian)

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Handing Over the New Year

December 30, 2010

I recently came across this exquisite work at the Mother Tongue exhibition, curated by the Indigo Design Network. It’s creator, Karina Fernandez, was born and raised in Melbourne where she currently studies visual arts at Monash University. She delved into her Indian cultural heritage while devising the piece – which took her on an exploration of body art, particularly bridal henna designs. However Karina found working with henna a messy business and instead wisely opted for a fine marker which still took her a number of hours. The quote she chose is from from Gandhi: No Culture Can Live if it Attempts to be Exclusive – worthy of reflection as we close the curtain on 2010. Happy New Year all…

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Diwali Comes Early Down Under

October 25, 2010

Although the Diwali Festival of Lights is to be officially celebrated by Hindus and Indo-philes around the world next week – here in Wellington things kicked off early. As part of the Asia New Zealand Foundation festivities I received an arts grant to present a projected exhibition, India Illuminated. Emitting from the shop window of Wakefield Hotel clothing and footwear store, the street-facing show formed a positive urban disruption in downtown Wellington.

The exhibition involved a rotating slideshow of 99 images I had captured in India – portraits of priests, muscians and villagers rolled alongside painted doors and tribal tattoos. The original suggestion was that they should be exhibited inside a gallery. But I was adamant – my photos speak of the street… so that’s where they should be shown.

Related articles:
A Little India in Cuba (India Illuminated newspaper coverage)
India Illuminated: Full Flickr Set
Creative Plot to Blow-up Bombay

Shout-out to my production crew at Nektar Films. Opening image by Craig Simcox for the Dominion Post. Closing image by Charles Mabbett of the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

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Indo-Italian Moves

July 24, 2010

Down here in the depths of winter it was heartening to receive pictures of an exhibition of my photography from summer in Italy. DES – An IndusInk Event: Celebrating a Tryst with the Contemporary was held at the Politecnico di Milano last month. Alongside my images Indian snacks were served, bhangra beats spun and folk dance unfurled. The event was devised by Avnish Mehta who is currently engaged in postgraduate study at PdM – designing products, services and systems… and the occasional cultural soirée.

Would’ve loved to have dropped by to catch these guys in action:

All Images: Florian Yzeiraj
Co-curator: Marco Spadafora

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Creative Plot to Blow Up Bombay

May 25, 2010

It was great to be part of the plan hatched by Akshay Mahajan & Kapil Das of the BlindBoys photography collective to expose the streets of Mumbai to expressive perspectives over the weekend. BlowUp Bombay was one part dynamic duo, one part global photographic talent and three parts street cred. It brought together image hunters who’s work was publicly showcased on the back of a number of earlier global BlowUp plots launched from Bangalore to Paris. (Illustration by Ronald Searle)

Image and display by Puneet Rakheja .

Twenty odd photographers were selected for the Mumbai event with locals invited to come along on the day and add their own work. The format was the humble A3 digital copy, the space sprawled across a few derelict blocks of Bandra and the audience ranged from residents to street sellers, photography fans to roadside romeos. Local children joined in to help put up the images and amusingly took on self appointed roles in protecting the displays.

Delhi BlowUp, 2009 (Photo by Kapil Das)

“As any artist will attest, street art is best made when unpredictable, subversive and not entirely legal… The Blowup events, where an ad-hoc public photo gallery is created using building walls and shop fronts as hanging space, have slowly accrued a devoted following.” – Mumbai Boss

Amongst the core group of exhibitors were prominent names like Bharat Sikka who lives between Europe and India and has shot for Vogue, Marie Claire, Wallpaper and the New Yorker. Adrian Fisk’s work has appeared in National Geographic, Vanity Fair, Paris Match and the Economist and I’m a particular fan of his documentation of the Indian Hair Trade (above: top). Central insurgent Kapil Das was joined by his partner in crime Akshay Mahanjan who’s images (above: bottom) have featured in Wired, Le Monde and the Wall Street Journal.

And then there was little old me who’s shots have appeared in the Guardian, CNN + Design Observer and who managed to be part of the whole conspiracy from way down here in New Zealand. Included in my submission was the series Jewelled for Life which was mainly taken amongst the desert tribes of Kutch where it’s said that tattoos are a permanent kind of jewellery that one takes to one’s death. Here’s a selection:

Lower image by Puneet Rakheja. Check out more of his coverage of the event.

“Life is on display on the street — people walk, sit, stand, sleep, drive, drink, eat, piss, talk, mingle, fight, and love. The street is where groups collide and where people live and die and where all of society mixes with trash, smog, sewage, and the pulsating sounds of traffic. We put together a bunch of our pictures there to bring them to you – where you’re standing, on the street.” – Blindboys

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Illuminating Urban Imperfections

May 12, 2010

Berlin-based artist, Jan Vormann, diverts our architectural attention with his global Dispatchwork series. While shining a light on urban histories he celebrates the spirit of repair through his vibrantly incongruous restorations.

Still in his 20s, his artwork has taken him from cities as varied as Tel Aviv and New York (both above) to countries as diverse as Ecuador and Serbia with sponsors including the Amsterdam Centre for Architecture. Some works seek to merely mend weathered decay while others fill scars left by war, such as in Berlin’s Mitte neighbourhood.

Lego has produced more than 400 billion units since the 1930′s, deriving its name from the Danish phrase to “play well.” Relevantly Jan often employs an inclusive approach – enlisting the help of passers-by and even encouraging others to take up his approach and send him photos of their creations from across the globe. Other times he works alone though admits that this can be demanding as in the case at a South American heritage church where he had to dodge thugs, nuns and security officers.

Jan’s streetscape interruptions playfully direct us to spaces-between, hidden-histories and untold-tales. And fittingly he uses a medium that we associate with unhindered childhood imaginings with which to fill the gaps.

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Veiled Paradox

March 30, 2010

New York-based photographer Kate Orne has focused her lens on Pakitsani prostitution over a number of years in an effort to expose the denial, modesty, pretense and cultural oppression which envelope it.

Young women from rural villages and refugee camps are sold to the brothels by human-traffickers, while others are born into the trade.

Prostitution is forbidden under Islamic law, but with the increasing influence of extremist groups, the women risk severe punishment under Sharia Law through beheadings and stoning to death.

The laws – both secular and sacred – seem to disregard the context in which women have entered the profession while paying negligible attention to the men who engage their services.

The women practice modesty according to Islam. For a woman not to cover her chest… is considered daring – even among prostitutes.

Proceeds from Orne’s print sales from the series May You Never Be Uncovered: The Victims of Pakistan’s Sex Trade support education of the children of Pakistani prostitutes via the Sheed Foundation – “a small but highly efficient community-based organization addressing the social problems faced in particular by the local female sex workers and their children who suffer from oppression, poverty, illiteracy and abuse.”

Orne highlights cultural complexity through her portraits and studies which are both intimate yet modest. Her images don’t provide us with answers but rather confront us to question deeper the paradoxes at play surrounding prostitution. And I’d hasten to add that they are not limited to Pakistan nor Islam.

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Overlap: Intersections of Desi and Diasporic

January 15, 2010

Earlier this month I spent time in Delhi with my old pal Arti Sandhu, putting up our exhibition Overlap at the Mocha Arthouse. Arti and I have been intersecting across the globe for a decade now – in New Zealand, India, Hong Kong and the US. Sharing a fondness for hand-rendered, vernacular artforms, we conceived the show around our varied perspectives of Indianess – touching on the desi and diasporic, the traditional and typographic alongside explorations of language and locality.

My own work included two series which I designed and had executed by sign-writers in Ahmedabad and exhibited previously at the Glasgow School of Art. The English of India series came from noting that visitors to India are so often surprised by the amount of English one encounters – on the street, peppered through films and even in remote villages. I aimed to capture the localisation of the global spread of English through the flair of local sign-writing.

The second series, Bollywood Soul – A Vernacular Walk of Fame playfully created a set which displays divas and heralds heros of national cinema, employing local portraiture and typographic styles commonly used to decorate rickshaws. I collaborated with a local legend who earns his living painting rickshaw mudflaps from his roadside studio – and committed his brush to rubber shoe-soles for the project.

Arti grew up in an Army family which meant she covered a lot of ground in India from a young age. A love of drawing and customising her barbie to look more Indian led her study fashion at NIFT in Delhi and later in the UK. Since then she has lectured globally and is currently an assistant professor of Fashion Design in Chicago. Her artworks explore identity and migration and provide insightful perspectives on the eccentricities of the modern and mundane in India and abroad.

On annual visits home to India Arti began to notice the idiosyncratic qualities of everyday life which she had previously taken in her stride. She drew on these observations to create the ‘A’ is for Akshar series in which she re-visits her motherland and language while providing a visual commentary on India through the lens of a migrant.

Exploring cultural baggage and excess baggage, Arti’s Mahila Moments series is inspired by Madhubani folk art. Here she delves into the dilemmas of modern day India, fashion and migration with a love for line, pattern and repetition. Reminiscent of Ganjifa playing cards, the series crosses borders of locality and globalisation in an interplay of what Indian womanhood has come to mean at home and further afield.

Included in the exhibition was a large format poster by New Zealand-based graphic designer and typographer Anton Hart. A few years back he landed up in Bombay on a work sabbatical. Like many before him and many to come, he was smitten. But the touristy tabernacles of Agra and Rajasthan were not what caught his eye. Instead he was enraptured by the truck painters of Bombay and farther afield. His Horn Please typeface and ornaments are a tribute to their flamboyant creativity.

The show Overlap: Intersections of Desi and Diasporic is hosted by the good folk at Box Design & Research and will be up at Delhi’s Mocha Arthouse, DLF Promenade, Vasant Kunj through March, 2010.

Related posts:
Viva Vernacular
Indian Street Graphics (Flickr)

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Cultural Confectionery

November 23, 2009

My partner in crime from Hong Kong days, Oriana Reich, has curated an exhibition Cultural Confectionery for the week long Detour festival. New York-raised Oriana is a creative visionary who works globally and is currently back in Hong Kong dishing up a wealth of delectable treats from graphic design to culinary arts. Her imminent show brings together such passions and exemplifies her multidisciplinary approach.

“Cultural Confectionery aims to convey the fundamental notion that food is a cultural expression. Through exploring the relationship of Chinese confectionery to identity and culture, our exhibit will include a classification of Chinese confectionery, highlighting types local to Hong Kong and those that are part of a confectionery diaspora. The exhibition is a record of sweet memories: the stories, memories and traditions that surround our relationship with sweets. A series of photographs by Grischa Rüschendorf will explore local bakery and cha chaan teng culture, sharing a vital part of Hong Kong’s urban landscape.”

Acknowledging the reliance of our food experiences on smell, Oriana has indulged in a spot of olfactory alchemy to enhance the sensory and nostalgic qualities of the exhibition. She sought the input of San Francisco-based scent sorceress, Julie Elliot who dispatched a selection of nine scents for Oriana to blend for the show.

Get it while it’s fresh – between November 27 and December 9, 2009.