binary : a division into two groups or classes that are considered diametrically opposite | division : the act or process of dividing/ the condition or an instance of being divided in opinion or interest | divide : to separate into two or more parts, areas, or groups | exclusion: the act or an instance of excluding/ the state of being excluded | exclude: to bar from participation, consideration, or inclusion | border: an outer part or edge | us : objective case of we | we: 'I' and the rest of a group that includes 'me' | other: being the one (as of two or more) remaining or not included
Proposal:
It took a fraction of time, we were Us for centuries though we were not same, we had differences but still we were Us. It took fraction of time to divide us into Us and Other. The line wasn’t marked yet but we separated already, the fear and uncertainty forced us to flee to what we considered the safer Us, same was the case with the Other.
In the space of few months more than 12 million Us and Others moved from other country to our country which were non-existent before, which was Ours before. Did we have choice at all? If Yes did it matter? or things were already decided for Us by our greater Us. We started moving, leaving everything behind that mattered the most, the sense of Home but we were told, our new home lies on the Other side.
Without questioning, we joined Us on the journey on foot, in car, in buses, in trains to join our kind Us where we will be safe from the Other. But, but in between the transit we were accompanied by the untold suffering, tragedy, pain and violence from those who once were Us, now Other
Railways played a crucial role in partition, as Hindus and Muslims took crammed, dangerous and often deadly journeys to their new homes. In the chaos, Muslim families crammed themselves into carriages bound for Pakistan, while Hindus travelled in the opposite direction, both fearing for their lives. It wasn’t unknown for “ghost trains” to arrive at their destination ablaze, their passengers burned to death.
The railways, in many ways, remains a lifeline for India at least, and some argue that it has played a pivotal role in keeping an intensely diverse and at times implosive nation together.
Hassan narrates how she developed a phobia of railway stations and platforms after coming to know of the atrocities that had been committed at these spaces. Railway lines in general, during what was one of the world's largest human migrations in 1947, had become scenes of riots, killings and massacres with "blood-stained" coaches pulling up at stations across India and the newly formed Pakistan. "Trains were dripping with blood, dead bodies were all across the platforms and people roamed around with swords," says Hassan. (Fakhrah Hassan, is working on an oral history project on the partition period.)
Objective:
Objective behind this work is to create the experience of the traumatic, painful train journey of Us and Others (Hindus/Sikhs & Muslims and Viz a Viz) while moving towards the considered safe zones. With the experience I want the audience to engage with partition of 1947 through the questions which aroused in me while reading about the it and put a spark in audience to sort of engage with the history in their own way.
I do not want to take any sides here but wish to put the both sides on the ground level as people were hardly concerned about the politics of the higher levels. They only wanted to be on their safer sides, their home, land, livelihoods and save themselves from the uncertainty on the other side.
References:
Literatures:
1. The Other Side of Silence, Urvashi Butalia
2. Train To Pakistan, Kushwant Singh
3. Peshawar Express, Krishan Chander
4. Amrutsar Aa Gaya Hai, Bhisham Sahni
Films:
1. Komal Gandhar
2. Train To Pakistan
3. Pinjar
4. Tamas
Inspiration:
A sound installation by Rana Hamadeh in Kochi Biennale 2018 inspired me to explore experience using sounds. I had already used sound in one of my classroom projects 'Reminiscence' but in this project I primarily wanted to focus on experience using sound.
Ideation:
With sound as a primary medium,
1. What If!
Initial idea was to put a big textual installation of What If! & questions scattered around the room in relation to the text. Once the visitor experiences the sound he/she can write their response to the question.
2. Cinema without visuals !
3. Story in sound, can it be a sound as a story.
Third idea fascinated me as to create experience without using words or language in sound. A soundscape of place, village, train, feelings & emotions. I decided to explore third idea in detail.
Final Exhibit had a 5.1 Surround sound & texts to emphasize on certain incidents and aspects.
Final Exhibit:
Space Identified within campus for installation
Designed Sound Scape:
Alternate Link:
Installation Video:
(Note: Video for demonstration purpose only)
Experience Design I Installation Design
Us & Other
Objective Design Project III we were expected to come up with a proposal in response to the text shared with us, keeping the basic objectives of research and practice the same. We were not expected to illustrate the text or words, but should respond to it in a philosophical/ conceptual way, and may consider identifying trajectories in directions ranging from personal to public, economic to social, historic to contemporary, and so on so forth.
the home of the self
to the undomestic other
the borders, the in-betweens,
the transit
between the self and the other
divisions - within
exclusions -without
crevices, cracks
in distance and time
us and them