Sunday, November 19, 2006

Ramya's Family (+photos)

These five photos taken by Terry Berger early in my stay in Sathyamangalam show my dear friends Ramya and her sister, Yamini, along with their mother, Sumathi. This is the day they tried to teach me south Indian cooking. Missing from the photos are Ramya's wonderful Daddy Prakash & Uncle Mohan. You'll see the kitchen and main hall of Terry's apartment, which was my home base for a couple of months.

I am back in the USA now, integrating the new and the longstanding: friends, ideas, directions; reflecting on my journey; planning next steps.

Suddenly ideas explored at CIIS are hot again, such as ontology and epistemology... What is real? How do we know what we know? It is glaringly obvious after a trip abroad that societal realities are largely constructed, and therefore shifting realities involves reconstruction. What might that look like?

Up next: I intend to post here soon a draft version of a concept paper I'm working on for the water project.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Current Intrigues

I am entering my final week of this Indian trip. I have a lot of plans, including one more visit to see Santhan the scultor, and one more visit to the hills. Kodaikanal is a possibility even though there is a high likelihood of rain. That's just the way it is this season in this part of the world.

There are some things related to the Water Project that I am keeping an eye on. Oxford Brookes University in England has a "social sculpture" program. You can get a good sense of the program by reading about Shelley Sacks, with whom I have been corresponding.

I heard about this school through a listserve from the Community Arts Network, "promoting information exchange, research and critical dialogue within the field of community-based art." This is an amazing resource.

I am also getting to know the Green Museum, run by Sam Bower, whom I had the pleasure of lunching with in California before I came to India. This is an exciting, inspiring environmental art website.