The Participation, continuation of the task "Breaking Boundaries".

Today's dance class was special. Mostly the lesson was about the dancing of "Lord Ganesha". "Lord Ganesha" is a well-known deity in India is especially known for his elephant's head.

 In my opinion, he is one of the most stylised God that I know of.As I started to work I tried to visualise how I could add on aspects of Lord Ganesha in the dance figure that was working on, together with the female figure. Here is how the figure turned out to be (still unfinished):

 I am mostly satisfied with what I have done as I feel I was able to bring out a creative aspect and a synthesis between the dancer and the dance form.

Here are different stages of the work enfolding:

These photographs were taken following my activities so as to engage the dancers in what I was doing. This was quite an interesting exercise. I felt the participants were able to connect to my work in different ways. Here I was dealing with the primary thing. I am not able to define this feeling, this is like my work- abstract yet totally understandable only to me. I think I need to analyse this at a deeper level... 

The dance class:

“I shut my eyes in order to see.” -Paul Gauguin

Pages from Gauguin's journal "Ancien culte Mahori"

Wonderful saying that says it all....

Divali festival in Mauritius.

Divali festival was celebrated on Thursday 23th of October 2014 in Mauritius. 

Diwali also known as Deepavali and the "festival of lights", is an ancient Hindu Festival celebrated in autumn every year. The festival spiritually signifies the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, and hope over despair. The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five day period, but the main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika. 

On Diwali night, Hindus dress up in new clothes or their best outfit, light up "diyas" (lamps and candles) inside and outside their home, participate in family puja (prayers) typically to Lakshmi– the goddess of wealth and prosperity. After puja, fireworks follow, then a family feast including mithai (sweets), and there is an exchange of gifts between family members and close friends.

I personally feel that this festival is strongly connected with my task "Testing Boundaries" as there are several characteristics that I have explored just recently concerning this culture as the Indian motifs/mandalas/rangolis, the colourful and gay atmosphere. This is a completely new feeling for me as this is the first time that I am pondering over my origin and identity for an artwork and I have just realised how this idea about inheritance and borrowed culture are so deeply embedded in me. 

My two daughters.

    

Some Photographs:

 

 

Random photos of the dance class..

More research..

Reflecting time again..

An interesting discovery.

This is a post from Facebook that I have just discovered. What clicked immediately was the fact that I was able to instantly connect to the artwork. This way of presenting dance was inspiring and enthusiastically creative, the mood was here as well as an astonishing simplicity. I have started on some sketches activity again as I am feeling that what can come out could be related and added to my task...

Part Three: Third session from the "baitka"

Changes, Changes..

The aftermath of my session today (Yoga session,Sunday 19th October morning from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m.; mostly elderly people).

I took some important decisions today.. One of them was to completely remove the central character, to be replaced by what I had worked on earlier when I had done some sketches...

Justification.

WHY? (this is a good question that I need to ponder on..)

1. I still ask myself if I have done the right thing and as it is, I have asked every single person around to get feedback and even my two daughters have participated. The general feedback from people of the "baitka" was that they liked what I was doing more because the work reflected the idea of the spiritual connectivity (they are real fans of meditation) through the spirals (all converging into oneness,etc). Of course my two daughters saw my work as "beautiful", a real boost when you are in need of encouragement..

2. I like what I doing now however I also feel sad (as if I have lost something??;well, you have to risk losing some to have better ones, so I console myself...)

3. I also feel all excited about the possibilities present to me now, and I have several ideas that I will have to try on. I am also considering the idea of a diptych, as I feel there can be a continuity to what is coming out of me now..

Here are some photographs of the "transformation" of the Unfinished Work":    

Reflection time: My boundaries really testing me (Part Two).

Yes, process is important, however reflection time also forms part of that and so I did some reflecting to overcome this block...

I researched on further artists from the Internet, returned back to all the researches I had done previously and also carried out some of Les's formula- "cutting, tearing, pulling,bending,sticking, etc, etc.."

This is what came through:

1. I realised that I had been overwhelmed by the beauty of my beautifully dressed friend and dancer and she subconsciously became my ONLY focal point, which was not what I had in mind at first. I was stressing too much on her and was forgetting other ideas that I had thought of at the start of the task.

2. I discovered the contemporary artist Suzan Drummen (who most definitely has the "wow" factor) whose work is a fusion from Indian motifs and personal development with decorative collage and installations/participations.

3. By looking at my previous sketches, I found out that I wanted to add these ideas "literally" as they were more truthful of what I wanted as mood.

4. I needed to do some precise and simple planning of what I was going to do at the next session at the "baitka", which will be on for tomorrow (Sunday 19th October 2014-morning at 08:00 mauritian time) and which will be a class of meditation and yoga.

The Dutch artist: SUZAN DRUMMEN. 

large-scale floor installations and mesmerizing and complex circular patterns made out of mirrors and brightly colored glass.  the fractal-like arrangements feature ornate and elaborate circles growing exponentially out of each other and vibrant rings of spiraling colors winding into the surface of the floor. they are composed of crystals, chromed metal, precious stones, mirrors and optical glass. a sensory experience, and visually stimulating, the glittering installations play with the architecture of the space — climbing up walls and sweeping across the surfaces — examining the idea of illusion and optical effects.

when viewed from a distance or from above, the work looks organized and neat, but with close contact, visitors enjoy seeing the many intricate details resulting from the skilled craftsmanship that goes into each art piece. in much of her work, Drummen places each glossy element loosely on the floor, making the artwork vulnerable and ephemeral.