Chhaap Artist Residency
Everything in India runs differently to in the UK.
Google maps would not be a reliable source, often leading us into people's gardens or overgrown ‘footpaths’. Buses run on their own timetable, for many we just had to wait and hope. The roads can feel like you’re in a Mario kart game. We’ve seen groups as big as five on one moped, we’ve seen newborns being held on mopeds and one girl hit by one. We’ve seen families sleeping on the streets. We’ve discovered the best places to eat are the rundown, grotty looking ones. We’ve (in our own style) learnt to eat with our hands because sometimes you don’t get served with cutlery. We’ve been to a popular tourist destination without being told a jeep will take you through deep water and then you will get out and have to wade through strong currents of rocky water with no one to help you cross or supervise. These are a few examples of the odd and sometimes worrying situations we encountered so when it came to doing our residency we were quite unsure what to expect.
It turned out to be amazing. An intense and eye opening month that I will not be forgetting anytime soon, so if you’re an artist at a bit of a loss I would definitely recommend doing an artist residency. It gave me the chance to have time on a project that otherwise wouldn’t have developed.
Vadodara where our residency was situated, is a very industrial city, full of huge malls and commercial shops so it was an odd contrast to the places in india we had previously visited. It doesn't feel like an arty city but we soon discovered so many places and events going on.
Chhaap is run by Kavita Shah who has amazing knowledge on printmaking and art in general. The studio space is a converted house, we had a large room with desk space and two more rooms with etching presses in each and 24/7 access (the dream!). We also had a small balcony which we would eat our breakfast on, watching the stray dogs of the area patrol their territory, the veg man come past on his bike full of fresh goods and the neighbours getting up to their day to day chores. We would wake up at half 7 and go straight to the studio and leave at about 8/9 in the evening, making the most of each day! We made sure to have days off and found so much inspiration in this, visiting museums and exploring the area on uber tuktuks.
Doing a residency in another country has opened windows to my art practice, we met so many creatives and saw a different side to studying art. Vadodara is renowned for its faculty of arts and we were lucky to be able to visit it. Unlike a university campus in England it was like going back in time to an old college that could be used in a movie set. Situated on a main road you could just walk in where you’d be confronted by the most beautiful banyan tree, surrounded by old buildings and dotted with students murals and sculptures. The printmaking building was (of course) my favourite, with old style presses in each room just free for students to use. The high ceilings had peeling paint, the walls were lined with old school wooden desks and long windows letting natural light pour through. It seemed unkept and basic compared to the highly facilitated studios at university, yet some of the work was the most skilled and beautiful I have ever seen. There were no computers in sight.
With so much we had seen and only a month to produce work, we both struggled to narrow down our ideas. I had come to India curious about their culture but also to find out about my own family links there. I focused on these two subjects to create prints reflecting personal subjects mixed with my experience of India. Experiencing a new culture can be quite overwhelming when you want to put it into images so there is more I want to work on even after coming back to the UK.
We did however, have a great turn out at our open studio night, drawing in lots of the students from the faculty of arts. Although there was a language barrier, it was refreshing to talk to students about our work who probably would’ve studied in different ways to us.
India is a hive of busyness, heat, colours, characters, lavish celebrations and madness. We met some really lovely people who were so welcoming. It's so easy to become wrapped up in a world of routine but if you have the chance to do something different, take the opportunity. Now that I am back I’m going to be working on a book based on the prints I made in India. We were constantly passing under privileged women with babies and children and it's hard hitting when we live in a society that doesn’t see that. I would like to give any profits made from my book to a charity helping underprivileged women and children in India.
Whilst we were in the studio we worked with Himanshu who does animation and I want to wish him luck pursuing his career in it. He became such a good friend, putting up with me and Sarah, introducing us to kulfi (Indian Ice Cream) and being open minded to discussing each others culture. Also to Kavyak, who showed us around the arts campus, visiting us in the studio and bringing us sweet treats for masala tea breaks. He is an amazing printmaker and gave us lots of advice, although I will never forgive him for making us try paan on our last night...an Indian after dinner experience that you will never forget!
