Acknowledging differences, rejecting divisions
It’s not every day that you get to hear how divisions in Indian society intrigued and impacted an artist so much so that he decided to bridge the gap through art. Andrea Anastasio, an award-winning designer from Milan, spent half his life in India, trying to interact with the locals and understanding social categorisation of people. “I have been coming back to India every year since 1979. Parts of my stay in this country were devoted to interacting with the locals and understanding the differences in the cultures. I always tried to understand what’s normally defined as tribal groups, tribal designs, folk art, and how these definitions always prevented us from seeing the underlying unity,” said Andrea.
It was only a few months back that the Italian artist was approached by Somnath Pyne, Founder and Secretary of The Force for Rural Empowerment and Economic Development (FREED) to create an art installation with lights, along with the artists of Chandannagar.
“Andrea is a light installation artist and designer from Italy. We wanted him to think out of the box and create something for the exhibition at the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre,” informed Pyne. “Considering the kind of work he does and the artists he would be needing, we could only think of craftsmen from Chandannagar,” he added.
Chandannagar is a small city and former French colony located 30 kilometers north of Kolkata. This small town over a period of 300 years has a unique blend of culture and heritage. The place has long been known for its decorative lights used in Durga Puja celebration.
Further, Pyne informed, “One fine day, Andrea visited the place and met the craftsmen. He later gave the creative inputs. Designs were exchanged on Whatsapp and at the end, we got a fine piece of art.”
The light installation is based on the concept of ‘Civilisation without divisions and boundaries’, created by Babu Pal from Chandannagar guided by Andrea. The financial support was provided by Bose foundation.
Speaking of his experience of working with 40 other artists from Chandannagar on this installation, Andrea said, “What I loved the most in the process of making it was the interaction with the artists. At a point, I realised that they were not actually fabricating but weaving the work. That was a beautiful moment in which I could see the blending of craftsmanship and conceptual approach.”
Andrea, who found lights a very fascinating medium to talk about contemporary issues of our society, usually loves to combine architecture, design, and art. I believe that architecture and design can be used as languages and tools to address various issues. Even in this case, design and architecture came together to address and tackle the issues of contemporary reality,” he concluded.