4nanyashankar

[4nanyashankar]

Living Portrait NYC

[4nanyashankar]

Living Portrait NYC

[4nanyashankar]

Living Portrait NYC

[4nanyashankar]

The Amsterdam Light Festival takes place in the winter year each to illuminate the city’s streets and waterways with bewitching light installations. Although my current reflection is about sound design, this visually stimulating and interactive experience is the only one I could think of and because this light festival experience twinkles up your eyes, it also made me wonder how our brain automatically imagines a sound to these visuals.

Read more: https://amsterdamlightfestival.com/en/artworks/waiting

[4nanyashankar]

What struck me most watching this film was the story behind it. Yes, the visuals are stunning and the 3 fragmented narrative is unique and different but after reading about how Mattehew Henson’s achievement of being one of the first people to reach the North Pole was erased due to a prejudiced history is retraced through this meditative art through re-tracing Henson’s footsteps is beyond amazing. I love that Julien’s works emerge from in-depth investigation of history, especially with this work. It’s like almost answering the question “What’s better than one Henson? 3 Hensons.” His journey is now truly a memorable one. “I could declare some expediency here in enjoying the idea of trying to reframe the black protagonist in this setting because, for me, Matthew Henson’s journey to the North Pole creates this co- or inter-dependence. I think it’s really interesting that you have an African-American who is forging this journey into the sublime, into the blankness, into whiteness and almost into a disappearing-ness because Henson disappears from History” says Julien. And having a black woman in the position of Henson was the cherry on top experience for me as it draws a juxtaposition between the blank woman and the ice as Julien describes it. And lastly, I love how this piece also draws ecological and colonial interpretations. The fact that these were achieved through this simple yet sophisticated visuals is truly inspiring. 

[4nanyashankar]

Frank Film introduced me to something called “animation and collage”. Visually stimulating and auditorily intriguing (aka disturbing), the film showcases images - a collage of photos collected from magazines - interwoven with the sound of the Frank narrating what seems to be his autobiography along with him reading random words starting with the letter ‘f’. Personally, I only recall hearing a couple of words beginning with the letter ‘f’ and mostly the numbers he recites at the start and end of the film. It was definitely challenging to zoom out the second voice and focus on his autobiography- an auditory example of Figure Ground principle..? The images were related to the voice reading the autobiography but not precisely. For example, when the narrator talks about how he wanted to study architecture, images of monuments and famous structures came up and in between thoughts or sentences, the screen is filled with other unrelated images. The images were only popping up on the screen as if it were a collage with no continuous motion leading to the next set of images. What I really loved about this film is how exact and true this reflects our own day to day life thought processes. How humans do think visually and not necessarily in words, though there’s a voice up in our heads. Another observation was how the images clutter over the screen and then when the narrator proceeds onto the next part of his life’s story, the images declutter as if preparing to start on a clean slate with a new thought. Another Gestalt principle I noticed was Common Fate at 5:20 with the beers. Similarity, Continuity and Proximity were also dominant.

[4nanyashankar]

Norman McLaren - Begone Dull Care 1949

Throughout the video what kept me hooked was definitely the music. Growing up, I watched a lot of cartoons and the playful music this video exhibited reminded me of Tom and Jerry, minus the art. Instead of watching a cat and mouse chase each other, the wonderful strokes and shapes of paintings wobble and blend in wonderfully. The abstract art was actually very satisfying to watch as they are in animation with the music. Gestalt principles like Continuation and Common fate were notable. This video was definitely much easier on the senses compared to Frank Film.

[4nanyashankar]

I was introduced to watch a documentary called Agarrando Pueblo “The Vampires of Poverty” which falls under the genre of poverty porn (??? - I had no idea this genre existed). About 4 minutes into the documentary, the plot was pretty much established what this 28 minutes long documentary is going to be about. The documentary is supposedly a “scathing satire of poverty porn, very funny, quirky, self-referential and multi-faceted”. However, what we watch throws light on many social issues like poverty, white supremacy, racism, commercialism and the such. I was left feeling very uncomfortable midway, but was curious to know how this was going to end and well, I wasn’t disappointed. I learned about documentary ethics, which again is so important to know as a filmmaker or photographer. Another observation is the alternating between colour and black and white of the scenes which aims to show how media controls information and how it’s meant to be perceived by the audience. The documentary is definitely something I could watch again to re-examine anything I may have missed out but I can’t promise I will be able to without cringing.

[4nanyashankar]

Design Preferences VS Prejudices

i)               Preferences

Ø  I cannot live without color. I think color and minimalism can go very much in hand as well.

Ø  GLITTER. I NEED GLITTER. OH AND HOLOGRAPHIC OBJECTS.

Ø  Sufficient spacing and furniture

Ø  Wood. I love the brown that wood brings into a space

Ø  Nooks. I love a good nook. Finding a nook in every space is important.

Ø  Candles for fragrance

Ø  Tissues/hand towels at an easy and accessible reach anywhere

Ø  Shrugs, white shoes, lipstick, perfume – MUST.

Ø  Pictures and postcards are very important to be hung up in personal spaces

Ø  Round dining tables

ii)             Prejudices

Ø  Anything asymmetrical

Ø  Lace clothing, ripped jeans

Ø  Too much kitchen glassware

Ø  White sheets/pillows

Ø  Indoor plants. Maybe tiny ones, a couple of them but indoor plants.

[4nanyashankar]

Check out my VSCO

[4nanyashankar]

September Soundscape

The first morning of September

I sit at the creaking table

As I hear Sandra give her breakfast mug a good scrub

I wonder why there’s buzzing

From the incandescent bulbs.

I pay attention to all the noise around me

A silent morning indeed

My roommate’s snuggly blanket ruffle

Sandra’s got a cold too, I hear her sniffle

And I gotta stretch - Woah, I think I just pulled a muscle.

As Sandra pops open her sunscreen,

Zoey got out of the shower looking clean

I pulled out a pan and got the butter sizzlin’

I think to myself as I crack the egg open,

“Hmm, I think this egg was already broken”

Sandra’s walking around really fast

Her squeaky shoes are feeling her tension

“Sandra, are you late for something?” I ask

“Yes, the gym. I want to get there before I change my mind” she says

I giggle and whisper to myself

“Yeah, don’t we all?”

[4nanyashankar]

i want to unlearn oedipus & electra complex