2010

created during an art residency @ Jaaga - Bangalore, India.

solo show - Jaaga - Bangalore, India

partner Alliance Française of Bangalore

special thanks to Archana Prasad - Freeman Murray - Kiran D. - The Jaaga community & Heidi Fichner.

 

For 3 years I was a nomad; more than 60 places became my temporary homes; sordid, simple or pleasant ones, very rarely deluxe. 3 years that my roots were as if in seven places; 3 years that I conjugated what is called "freedom",  that I wandered, explored, ceaselessly moved, welcomed constant change, sowed, and strived to avoid the trap of an attractive but constraining materialism. 3 years, I decomposed my identity in order to better (!?) recompose it, like Bangalore, the mega-city where I spent the longest time.

Before going back to a sedentary life, I chose to make a last stop in this city in order to achieve and to present a creation about nomadism in collaboration with Jaaga, the only nomadic structure in Bangalore. Like relatives of the same tribe, we had a specificity in common: both we were able to pack and move in a short amount of time. There is another community of people in Bangalore who are similar as well : the migrant workers. About 850 000 of them landed here hoping to have a better life with better jobs. They, together with some people part of the Jaaga community are the friends mentionned in the title of this installation.

 

The yellow pebble road

installation yellow pebbles, red shoes

The yellow pebble road symbolizes a nomadic path. Composed of small pebbles that I have collected during my journey and painted yellow, the trail begins by drawing a spiral patttern on the ground that becomes a road. The spiral symbolizes the continuous movement and impermanence of life; the very first characteristics of the state of nomadism of which movement, change, newness and going with the flow are the credos.

Right at the center of the spiral (diameter 4 m), a pair of glittering shoes: an evocation of the red magic ruby slippers worn by Dorothy during her journey in the film " The Wizard of Oz" by Victor Flemming ( 1952). A yellow path like the "yellow brick road" (an evocation of the same film); a road that is supposed to lead Dorothy, the heroin, to an ideal somewhere-over-the- rainbow. Pebbles as in "Hop o my thumb" by Charles Perrault ( XII century); a fairy tale in which the young hero overcome obstacles and finally finds his way to a better life thanks to his pebbles.

 

I feel I am not in Kansas anymore

Maze structure made of yellow plastic sheets and yellow pebbles.

8 m X 12 m - height 3 m

Realized with the collaboration of Kiran D.

The yellow pebble maze and its meanderings symbolises some aspects of the nomadic journey : Loneliness, unpredictability, so called "freedom" of wandering and choices, excitement, confusion, optimism, discouragement... One can feel easely lost and become tormented. Questions then arise: Where am I, where am I going ? How to get out of this unconfortable state ? How to find this better ? At these moments being on the road can become the opportunity for introspection.

 

 

The fool

video tryptic, about 20 minutes

With the collaboration of Akhila, Ruby, Sangeetha, Santosh, Sherin Raj & Stephen / The Schooling Project

Body, soul and spirit ceaselessly moving...

In the old tarot deck the fool is a vagabond, a spirit in search of experience, following his path. His soul is able to handle any situations he could encounter. It is the only tarot card without a number; the fool is "out of the game". When the card is right side up, it symbolises freedom, the journey, moving forward. But when upside down, the fool is equal to lack of freedom, a forgotten soul, and by extent as an outcast, or an underprivileged stranger, a lost sheep.

 

Emerald shitty

Installation: video, red shoes, yellow pebbles, rainbow lights, garbage.

Music Didier Couly

Realized with the collaboration of Kiran D.

Nomadic mirage...reality striking, illusions vanishing, rejection manifesting, feeling upside down like the hanged man of the tarot card.

 

 

there is no place like home

photography - portraits.

many thanks to Aditya - LabourNet, Ankur Agarwal, Kiran D. for their generous help.

 

miss miss hop o' - from Paris France - nomad since 2007 - March 2010 " I am home" tryptic - 3 X 71 cm X 122 cm

 

Mukesh Kumar - from Bihar India - nomad since 2007 - October 2010 " I have to make any place where I stay my home".

Eve - from New York & 6 other places USA - nomad since 2007 - October 2010: " A backpack & some skills to get by is like my home personal"

 

Freeman - from California USA- nomad since 2002 - October 2010: " Home is when I know that is where I am supposed to be".

Shiv Shankar Tanti - from Bihar India - nomad since 2000 - October 2010: " When I hear the ringtone of my cellullar I am at home: it says Kajol and it is the name of my daughter".

Anuj Pandit - from Bihar India - nomad since 1994 - October 2010: " Home is any construction site where I work with members of my family and people from my village."

Ria - from all over India - nomad since 1985 - 0ctober 2010: " Home is living in my family clockwise routine".

 

Ankur - from Gujarat India - nomad since 2004 - October 2010: " Home is my head, my mental".

Budha - from Kolkata India - nomad since 1997 - November 2010:" Home is where I get every morning".