Day 3 and 4 On Wednesday we had to discuss our ideas with our teachers before going to metro. I had ideas according to the letter and how I'm gonna interact with the people. I made stickers which showed American patriotism instead of Pakistan. I wanted to show them that we are American slaves, basically what the writer was trying to tell you indirectly by writing the letter to Uncle Sam (America) . My teachers told me that if Manto is writing to them indirectly why am I using it's name directly, they had a point. And maybe you can celebrate that we are their slaves also that I needed to keep it simple because we have to communicate with the general population who doesn't understand conceptual art. I got very confused because I needed to find the way that how I can communicate and tell them some points from the letter with simple a simple way. They also told me that I need to understand my audience and that need to mingle in them without telling/ showing them that I'm an outsider or an artist. So I went to metro again to just look at people. I took all day to read the letter as many time as I could and highlighted the main points from the letter. Which was 1. Poverty 2. Need for control 3. And truth. I used the topic of poverty because Manto writes that only the poor people suffers in the end they can't even beautify themselves when they die. And Dogs are better than us. So I made small scrolls keeping in the view that it need to be simple, so I wrote a simple quote that in the end poor people are force to face the hardships and realty. The next day when I discussed this idea with my teacher she asked me that I can do this anywhere in Rawalpindi so what's special in doing this on metro. So after the artist talk I discussed my new idea with my teachers and I hope it works this time. I will be doing this in front of my teachers so they see the audience reaction too. Fingers crossed for the jury tomorrow and trust on Allah. InshaAllah it will go okay. Self reminder: keep it simple for the local people. 🤞🏻
