A Love Letter to Everyday Life in Rajasthan, India.
Cardiff School of Art and Design
Second year project.
In my second year of university, I had the opportunity to visit the region of Rajasthan, India, for two weeks. The purpose of the trip was to immerse ourselves in this completely new and different environment, and to spend a further four weeks back in the UK building a project inspired by the experience. After a lot of preparatory work and further research, I came to this final piece; a Victorian puzzle purse reimagined as a love letter for Rajasthan.
Inspired by Rajasthani Jajams, a large piece of textile historically used to greet guests, each layer of the puzzle purse tells us something new about the area; the bustling streets, the astrology, the rolling fields, the street dogs. It all leads to the centre, to the home, often little more than just four walls and a roof, which homes the strong family unit. I aimed to highlight the beauty of this strong sense of community, and to place social wealth over monetary wealth.
The piece uses predominantly gouache for the colour and the surface is paper made from elephant poo. This sheet in particular is one that I made with the family behind Elly Express, a business in Jaipur that pioneered this paper, their process being sustainable, ethical, and local.
