LINDSAY CARONE

2015-16 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar, Gujarat, India

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I tried my hand at bandhani, a tie and dye technique widely practiced here in Kutch. Tiny sections of cloth are bound up with tiny knots to act as a resist. After the cloth is dyed and the knots are removed (which is as delightfully satisfying as popping bubble wrap), the fabric is dotted with a constellation of little rings. 

It’s nit-picky, labor intensive work. The real pros make unfathomably small, “mustard seed” sized knots that put my feeble attempt to shame. Look here to see what I mean

I just love that pucker-y, smocked-ish texture...

With so many of the crafts I’ve been encountering lately, I think I like it more in its half-done state that the final product, but into the dye it goes

post second dip, indigo still oxidizing~

the end result~

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glitter roadkill

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everything is more colorful here, even the drugs

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Bhuj Chattardi at sunset with anonymous distant goofballs

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blockprinters in Ajrakhpur. Quick and precise registration happens by the magical grace of muscle memory and a keen eye. 

Such an incredible process to watch

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fresh block prints drying in the magic hour

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gadgets, gizmos, whozits, & whatzits galore

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fellow travelers along the desert highway

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I’ve been in love with phulkari embroidery, lately. Those silky threads, perfectly imperfect repeats, and golden monochromes get me every time. 

Here are some details of a few gems from the Wazir collection

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One of the primary focuses of my research here is to learn about innovative ways that post consumer waste is repurposed by artisans using methods influenced by traditional craft techniques. So far, I’ve been focusing on weaving and ply split braiding using the ever-ubiquitous plastic bag, or “poly bag” as they call them here. Both of these processes are pretty labor intensive, requiring a lot of preparation, patience and time. When I was invited to  do a visiting artist lecture and workshop at Poornima University in Jaipur in January, I jumped at the opportunity to try something a little bit more immediate. Since the time allotted for the workshop was only four hours, I needed to figure out how to develop a project that was possible to  complete in such a short time.

Since I arrived in India, I’ve been struck by how simultaneously decorated and littered so much of the landscape is. Colorful temples rise out of the trash-strewn streets  but no one really seems to think twice about it. I wanted to make an installation that publicly combines decoration with detritus, careful placement and careless tossing, so I decided that we would make a giant rangoli out of waste plastic poly bags. Typically made with colored sand, rice, flour or flower petals, rangolis are made during various festivals, marriages, and other auspicious occasions. The designs are often radially symmetrical and range from simple to elaborate.

It was important to me that the resulting imagery to fit within the student’s visual vernacular and as I hoped, a lot of the students had made rangolis many times before. By using this waste material in an auspicious way and on a larger-than-normal scale might make the student participants and/or viewers pause to consider their consumption and disposal habits.

The students got really excited about the prospect of creating a record-setting rangoli and determined that if it were fifty-something feet across, we would earn some sort of superlative title. But as irony would have it, we ended up running out of bags and had to shrink the diameter pretty significantly to about 35’. If only our shortage were indicative of a broader reduction of plastic bag use! But alas, it’s anything but.

students linking hands to determine size and placement 

...figuring out the layout

...arranging the bags

the 50-foot layout, just before we realized we were almost about of bags and had to shrink it

the final result from above...

...and from ground level

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For the second edition of More OK Please, I present to you the instructions for my dear friend Kasturi’s amazing and easy bindi (okra). Stay tuned for her delicious dal.

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block printed #mashru Some communities in Gujarat thought silk was too sensual to touch the skin, but some clever weavers devised a way to make a single fabric that that is silk on the surface and cotton in the under side in order to play by the rules and keep their fineries. The word mashru translates as 'this is allowed.' There are only a few families who still weave this lovely fabric. (at Bhuj)

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Christmas decorations for sale in Goa

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A month or so before Diwali, I was advised to start hoarding small bills until after the holiday. When I tried to find out why, the best I ever got was, “because nobody has change.”

I found my answer walking around the market in Shimla, a few days before Diwali

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