THE PURPOSE 

Creating artist books for the ‘RISD Fleet Library’ and ‘John Hay Library’ Permanent Collections to share intimate South Asian stories in unconventional media for the purpose of fundraising for target populations

THE CLIENT

      

RISD FLEET LIBRARY

Founded in 1878, Fleet Library at RISD is one of the country's oldest independent art college libraries.

The John Hay Library is the second oldest library on the campus of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, United States.

The Pembroke Center at Brown University is a feminist research center devoted to critical scholarship on the struggles faced by people across national and transnational contexts.

THE APPROACH

South Asian women aren’t represented adequately on the campuses of Brown Univeristy and Rhode Island School of Design– especially in the physical records of library, museum, and academic departements.

The two-fold project aimed at creating dossiers of self-expression for the permanent collections of two highly influentional spaces in Providence, Rhode Island. 

After developing the two artist books, from concept to design– they were purchased by the Special Collections at both schools. 

“Special Collections” is an umbrella term for archives, rare books and manuscripts, and other materials that are rare, old, or otherwise worth preserving.

This series of 4 books, or "pads", have been made out of real sanitary napkins. Each book is a representation of each day of a regular menstrual cycle, outlining the emotions, feelings and blood flow that is typically experienced as a result of hormonal changes in a woman. 

Each book is typified with the emotions felt on each day of a regular cycle. The books also include a tampon bookmark which decreases with size as the days go by.

The transparent box is a parody on the manner in which pads are often hidden and sold in many countries. The transparent material is a social commentary on this convention.

The books are dedicated to the different sectors of society that become inevitable casualties of political warfare and terrorism. The books, however, outline different episodic accounts as recalled by me, in mere fragments, of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on the 26th of November, 2008.

Each book has been made on handmade paper which was purchased from a paper mart that is near Taj: one of the locations of the terrorist attack. I haven’t been to the Taj Mahal Hotel in the last 12 years.

REFLECTION

Often, emotions are best let out though creative modes  

Through conversations and dialogues about my work and its significace, I was contacted by the aforementioned collections to purchase my work. This would not have been possible without the people who guided me, and listened to me, as I spoke about my work.  

Through conversations with the women who where served through this project, they mentioned their appreciation for the fact that they were provided with sustainable means to cope with certain localizes issues. 

PRESS FEATURES

6th Baker & Whitehill Student Artist’s Book Content 2020