PART 2 - Ceramic residency in Delhi Feb-April 2009
With a couple of weeks to go of my residency and since I had pretty much finished up with the making, firing and presenting of my work, I used this time to visit an important potter's village in the outskirts of Delhi. Also, I made a trip to Rajasthan which I had been especially looking forward to.
The Hastal village in Delhi is the site of an original potter's village where people are still living and making pots today. Lining a selection of streets in one particular area, it felt like walking into the perfect lesson of pottery manufacture in India! 2 other artists from the residency, Jane and Katherine, and I were lucky to be guided through this village by the son of a really important and talented Indian potter who has made it to Australia a few times to demonstrate their technique and tradition. Giriraj Prasad is known for his beautifully elegant forms ranging from large scale 2 person high pots to imaculate miniatures of these forms the size of a third of your finger. Giriraj Prasad and his family were extremely welcoming as we sat in their workshop and had chai. We were showed his kiln which covers a couple of floors, loaded from the top and is built into the structure of the building which all of them are in hastal village. His son Shyam then kindly showed us around the old village where we watched people making pots as fast as you could break them! Pots everywhere, raw clay allover the road and entrance to houses, kilns that were built as part of the houses and the kids playing in the streets wanting to be in every single picture taken - What an experience!
Chandigargh - NEK CHAND'S ROCK GARDEN
This is a magical wonderland that I would recommend everyone who is going to India, to see. My interest in compiling found junk into artworks gave me an especially strong desire to see this place as it has been built by Nek Chand in an old tip yard starting back about 50 years ago. He began it as a secret place where he could creatively find a way to recycle all the wasted junk in this valley in Chandigargh, just a few hours north of Delhi. Over the years, it grew and blossomed into a magical garden which despite government controversy, had to eventually be recognised as a cultural asset which actively contibutes to an effective recycling system for the town. It is an achievement to be recognised and enjoyed. My pictures give an example of some of the things he has created from random things such as bicycle frames, electrical plugs and thousands of colourful broken bangles. I just loved this place!
RAJASTHAN!
Jaipur -
A couple of days after my big day trip to Chandigargh on the train, I was offered a lift to Jaipur with Devena, our wonderful artist coordinator. This was really nice of her and her family, and the highway between Delhi and Jaipur is actually really well built so it didn't take long to get there and I wasn't freaking out in the car for the first time in my whole trip!
Jaipur, the Pink City, was chaotic but stunning as the sun sets over the painted pink buildings that line the city. I saw the sites of the City Palace with its equistely decorated gates for all seasons, my favourite being the peacock gate. Can you believe they are lucky enough to have the Peacock as their National bird!! I also climbed up the Hawa Mahal with the different coloured windows overlooking a crowded street and roundabout - if you can call it that as cars, motorbikes, bicycles, rickshaws, carts and people on foot were just inching their way through it in even which way they could.
I wandered through the market streets just admiring all the colour and the way the locals shopped.
I managed to find my way amongst several buses to get to Amber. At one point, I felt like I was in a movie where I was jumping onto a still moving bus that never quite stopped to pick me up. Then when I sat down, I realised that the entire bus was staring at me, not because of the way I had entered the bus, but in fact because I was the only western looking person around for miles! Several kms up the road, was the Amber Fort which was of course also stunning architecture, and a little town which had an interesting textile museum with examples of how the traditional block printing fabric is created.
Johdpur -
Ahh, the Blue city on the edge of the desert! I think this was probably my favourite place in all of India that I had been. Maybe because it was bordering the desert, and I love deserts! So, I guess because it's so hot there, they painted all the buildings blue to keep them cool...
When I arrived in the evening on the train from Jaipur, It was right in the middle of the Gangore festival in which the parade was happening right through the street that my hotel was on.
The narrow lane was packed, and there were all these floats with men dancing to trashy music dressed like women?! I had no idea what I had just walked into! Anyhow, I was able to watch from the window of the hotel for the next hour or so that the parade went for. The Gangore festival is one that celebrates women and fertility and them finding a partner as was explained to me by the lovely women running the hotel. I guess maybe that explains the costumes?
The main attraction for my visit to Johdpur was not only the fascination for a city that lives bordering a hot and dry desert, but also the great Maharaja Fort which sat on the hill overlooking the blue city. It was stunning! It had immaculately carved stone on the exterior of the buildings with internal palaces that felt like mirrored rooms with all the gem and mirror lined walls, posts and roofs. The gold painted murals and decoration in these rooms was magnificent. These richly decorated rooms will stay with me forever.
I took the opportunity to shop in the market here in Johdpur for some spices for home cooking (which admittedly, my partner does way better than me!) and some traditional printed scarves as the streets were lined with textile stalls of all patterns and colours.
I will end the tales of my journey with these pictures that I love of random groups of kids and women. It shows the fun, friendliness and hapiness that I found in the people of India. After returning from Rajasthan to Sanskriti, I had a last couple of days to pack and say my goodbyes. Of course nothing goes smoothly and easy for me.......but that's another story.
