going round in circles Print

I am a product designer, I teach design and I have also worked with traditional craft and craftspeople in India. naganandini@yahoo.com Artists Statement The balance between order, solidity and fluidity, ephemerality is part of the eternal search. While living can be a set of trade-offs, the spark inside is constantly struggling against the pattern and seeks the liquid state of being, of pure flow. Through my work, consisting of paintings, photographs, found objects and craft objects, I am exploring the idea of memory. Through the years of working and living as a product designer, working with crafts that are ancient, with people whose tools, techniques and ways of living have remained nearly the same for hundreds of years, there have been many moments of recognition, of deja vu, of comfort, of familiarity. I am beginning to believe that each of us have memories, good and bad, like anthropological memories, of places, people, material, tools/work, sounds, textures, feelings etc. that come from a long time ago, from a common source. Each of us accept or reject these memories and most of our life decisions are based on these. Our personal histories are more than our lineage and the physical routes we take, more than our genetics even. So certainly memories of work (think of the god Vishwakarma, the hindu god of work, who was poor but hardworking) would remain. It might prove useful to explore these memories, since of course memories are directly connected to belonging. It would also be useful in understanding in another way, the place that these ancient crafts and craftspeople have in our lives today, in urban spaces of increasing rootless ness. To find that balance between individuality and the sense of belonging to something larger and older.