Illustrators Offline
MICRO RESIDENCY
9th - 17th June 2019
Residency
Illustrators today are largely recognized by their Instagram handles and real-world interactions are becoming more and more limited.
Illustrators Offline was a week-long micro-residency at TIFA to get Illustrators to interact in person and to facilitate thinking together, share processes and co-learning. Marking the end of their residency, participating artists present their practice to the public through open studios.
Artists in residence range from a Ph.D. graduate to established and young practitioners to with a spectrum of practices from knitwear designers, graphic designers and comic artists to animators and researchers.
The discourse between artists in residence addressed aspirations for personal practices and sustenance through commissioned projects and entrepreneurship. Through dialogues, this residency addressed the artists positioning in the larger digital ecosystems and how it is influential to their self-sustaining their practice yet reinforcing the urgent need of tactile creative explorations.
Illustrators Offline translates these predominantly online practices into spatial experiences.
Consumption | Aditi Damle
def: consumption (noun)
The act of using up a resource.
using, depleting, wasting, squandering, draining.
I am consumed by my ego.
We consume each other.
They are consuming the earth.
What is consuming you?
Maau | Aditi Mali
The project is about the artist's cat, Maau. The artist is a little too obsessed and passionate about Maau. She wants the viewer to get close to experiencing the real Maau.
Reflection | Aishwarya Khoche
This installation is about what a person asks themselves when they are deep into self-doubt and have conflict within themselves. The concept is to step into the artist's mind as they question themselves and map out their conflict, and eventually find the courage to find their way out.
Annanda Menon
Annada visited Seoul, South Korea in May 2018. This was her first trip abroad and to a city in abundance of culture, food, and art. Her work seen here comprises of these experiences in the form of sketches. The work has been executed on industrial tissue since it has the thickness and texture of rice paper. She had The experience of writing her name in (Korean) with ink and a calligraphy brush. The tissue connects her to that memory. The flow of the work from the ceiling, floor, and table represent exploration in various directions within the city. The journey starts from the beautiful palaces Gyeongbokgung and Changgyeongung. Represented by the patterns on the pillars accompanied by a drawing of the palace and women dressed in Hanboks. This continues on to the popular food in Seoul on the table. Moving on to the floor are things she noticed while walking around the city and her visit to the COEX mall aquarium. The final stretch is of the guard of Gyeongbokgung Palace and King Sejong. He is one of the most respected Kings from Korean history since he created the Korean alphabet. Also exhibited brochures and souvenirs from Seoul.
Shero to the rescue | Anusha Menon
Shero to the rescue is a story about a young hedgehog named Shero who lives in the grassland in the Rann of Kachchh. One day she sees some humans surveying the grassland for the construction of a factory. Shero rallies together many other animals, and some humans living in Kachchh, to protect their habitat.
Increasing urbanization directly destroys wildlife habitats. The story introduces the wildlife of the grasslands of the Rann of Kachchh and that development may have such negative impacts.
The story is presented on six CRT TVs retrieved from the old guest rooms of Hotel Shalimar that was the building that now houses TIFA.
Sleepsutra | Chaitanya Modak
We spend about a third of our lives in a state which recharges us and keeps us ticking. Nothing can be more refreshing or life-giving than sleep. In fact, one can survive without food for up to three months but it is impossible to survive without sleep.
Sleepsutra unravels states of consciousness we drift in and out of from the day we were born. With parents watching over, to sleeping alongside spouses, lovers, companions and friends, to the times we slept by ourselves – all alone. Sleep is nature’s antidote to the craziness around us, a switch to pull when there’s an overload – suffering on hospital beds, getting run over on pavements, drifting off in bathtubs to a dangerously drowsy ride on a bike.
In TIFA, the subject takes two forms. It can be experienced in a darkened room, lying down comfortably alongside the protagonist; reading his innermost thoughts. It can also be experienced intimately in its original book form; held intimately, soft, sensuous, pages turned, to reveal deeper sleep.
Words and pictures are fluid, one begins where the other ends, words form pictures and pictures form words.
Bedroom Blues | Debangshu Moulik
Debangshu's installation depicts his bedroom where he makes and produces most of his work. It takes the viewer on a journey across his owvarious experiences and influences through the visuals he creates. These paintings were created over the course of two years.
ADVICE TO MYSELF AND OTHER MEN | Nandan Joshi
Hello reader,
What if there was a manual, that told me how to be a man?
Like a decent man, a considerate man. That way I could have avoided
the mistakes and all the hurt that I caused to others and myself. Sigh.
But this idea stayed with me. I found it interesting and important. I felt that creating it can have some impact on me, the men of today, and the men of tomorrow. First, I created an online survey to ask, both men and women, advice. They also shared personal instances, which made the survey authentic. I also took into consideration numerous conversations and instances. Data and introspection shaped the art piece.
When you step into the room, you will find some of this advice. These are written and illustrated on postcards because they are short letters to myself. You will also see a few personal incidents that lead me on this journey of self-exploration.
Whether you are a man or a woman, I hope that this piece leaves you
on a self-reflective note.
Yours sincerely,
Nandan.
Deconstructing My City | Dr. Subir Dey
Space is filled with various multisensory experiences and visions. Especially Indian cities have an abundance of chaos presented in an organized manner (well, sometimes). Within this chaos exists the spaces and people that fascinate me. Their stories, practices, rituals, and environments all become subject of my interest. I interact with the people and try to understand their aspirations about the place and life. Somewhere in a dingy lane, a young boy sees himself as a Bollywood rapper while there is another 70-year-old who hates Calcutta (but has never visited it!) The drama is humongous, the meanings are multilayered. In the process of roaming in the city, I deconstruct it, fragment by fragment to create new meanings. Ink is a constant companion that helps me to tell the stories I want to convey. Its organic nature and spontaneous language are perfect for representing cities and life. All the chaos and fragments when presented in a black and white space, creates a sense of weightlessness. Some of them are in dreams and some of them are the dreams. In the process of deconstructing, I come one step closer to understanding and speak to my city, its people and its spaces. Probably I do this with the hope of finding a voice for myself someday.
Neither in nor out | Tanya Maheshwari
The project takes an intimate look at the inheritance of femininity and gendered identity through a personal lens, an ongoing work in progress, the artist is trying to put together, through photos, visuals, and text an understanding of her identity and self-representation.
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