Literature & Spoken Word Community | Southbank Centre

This is my response to Vayu Naidu’s story, “Kali<Durga<Parvati”, and how she explores Indian gods in a contemporary and accessible way. Naidu enabled the listeners to empathize and relate to Indian gods in their own personal context. This made me think about urban creatures and what form gods would take in a contemporary setting. I chose to respond to Ganesha by keeping him traditional but surrounding him with urban animals from my London environment.

www.myrto-williams.com

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Rosamunde Hutt and Anupama Chandrasekhar at the Southbank Centre

An adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson’s Snow Queen, commissioned by the Unicorn Theatre, was performed as a work in progress at this year’s Alchemy festival. In this blog post, Nathália Mello speaks to the writer and director about the piece, its background and future.

The Unicorn Theatre during its 65 years of existence has always aimed to explore the human condition. The investigations are specially dedicated to the culturally mixed youth of the London scenario. The new building, in the heart of the city, functions as a stage for the very best writing, music and acting for the young audience. Themes of the rites of passage we all go through during adolescence – such as leaving home, loss, transformations, relationships – are juxtaposed into the context of the panorama of what is to be a contemporary teenager. The British rich, the disadvantaged, the immigrants and all possible tensions are mirrored by Unicorn’s actors. The actors mostly come from diverse backgrounds being able to introduce issues of this cultural mix often conducted to an impossible uniformity. Movement is how now we understand what was drama for the ancient Greece, what was a word for tension or for what tension could provoke.

Actors engage with the audience after their performances; this conversation becomes a fundamental element towards development of knowledge and understanding. In my meeting with Rosamunde Hutt and Anupama Chandrasekhar I confirmed my belief of how important international exchanges are. In 2003, Carl Miller, the literary manager of the Unicorn theatre, went to Mumbai and noticed a very skilful writer inclined towards the political reality of India and also concepts of “new writing”. (more…)

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Copyright 2011 © Yemisi Blake & Myrto Williams

Emergency Window is a collaboration between writer/ photographer Yemisi Blake and visual artist Myrto Williams. Commissioned for the Alchemy Festival 2011, the piece brings together photography from Blake’s 2009 journey to India with Southbank Centre, and Williams’ oil painting.

The Alchemy Hub

A print of the piece was given to artists visiting the Southbank Centre. It was also exhibited in the Alchemy Hub, a space for conversation and inspiration during the eleven days of the festival.

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The Festival kicked off on Friday with an exciting debate that explored how the rapid economic growth in India has led its led cultural practitioners to develop alternative models of production. The panel included: Rajeev Sethi, an artist and scenographer known for bringing contemporaryrelevance to the work of traditional craftsmen; fashion designer Sudhabrata Sadhu; Muzaffar Ali, filmmaker and activist; and Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director at the UK Crafts Council. The debate was chaired by Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director, Jude Kelly.

The debate touched on a variety of interesting themes surrounding the importance of craft in the current economic climate and how it is evolving and being recognised internationally.

Muzaffar Ali gave us his insights into craft in India as a metaphor for the notion of humility, service and aesthetic. Whilst Rajeev Sethi expressed his views on the way in which culture in India is being misinterpreted.  Everywhere else in the world sees a vibrancy and progression in the Indian cultural sector, but he regrets that this is not being sustained and brought back to India itself. He passionately condemns cultural industries in India for are deskilling their workers. Sethi argues that India is too concerned with the aesthetics and with the ‘telling’ of its greatness to the extent that the country has abandoned the notion of empowering the people who are the main protagonists. And as a result, he concludes that the government have failed to bring culture to India.

Jude Kelly turns the discussion to Sudhabrata Sadhu to discuss what the sustainability of craft is in India? Sadhu, a young craftsmen from… talks the audience about the challenges he faces with designing products that are relevant to the current market, whilst staying true to his belief in traditional and organic craft. The designer reflects the ongoing battle that many designers face in India:

“to what extent is it illogical to hold onto something traditional? But In the same respect what is logical about letting it go?”

These two opposing questions form the foundation behind the thinking of many practicing craftsmen globally. Which lead the panel to question whether traditional craft is getting used and abused in the modern world.

Rosy Greenlees, spoke empathetically about her views on how the crafts industry in the UK is not so dissimilar to that in India. She argues that there is an element of ‘deskilling’ amongst workers in the UK too, in order to respond to current trends in contemporary culture. We are reminded that it was not so long ago that the notion of craft in the UK was fighting for relevance in contemporary society which had a major effect on what was being developed and for what purpose.

The notion of what is maker is, is changing quite drastically across the globe. What was once associated with traditional craftsmanship, has now been overshadowed with the rapid economic technological growth of alternative models of production. Sitting in on this debate I couldn’t help but feel that we, The UK and India, are perhaps not so different. Both countries are searching for a meaning behind the notion of the ‘contemporary economy’ and battling for methods to sustain it. One outcome that remained certain is that it is an exciting time for Craft worldwide and that craft, in whatever context, has the power to respond to the challenges facing the world in the 21^st century. With future leaders and patrons for the arts developing new sustainable models, the economic power lies within the hands of traditional artists, craftsmen and scholars.

This discussion is part of a programme of encounters between high-profile speakers from UK, India and neighbouring South Asian countries, developed in a partnership between the British Council and Southbank Centre.

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(In response to Gyan Prakash, Anjali Joseph & Siddhartha Bose: Tales of Maximum City, as part of the Alchemy Festival 2011)

Three talented writers have just shared their experience and valuable thoughts on the world’s most chaotic yet exciting city Mumbai. Being engrossed in the talk throughout, I was looking forward to reading their respect novels but then I remembered it is the most dreadful time of year; exam time! So being a student, and with frightful exams around the corner, pleasure reading is on standby for now but are definitely at the top of my summer read whilst I spendsummer 2011 in India. Bonus! I had a number of thoughts running through my mind at the time which I have gathered and came up with the following:

I, Bombay was named by the Portuguese. Everybody’s name has a meaning. My name is said to be an Anglicization of the word “Bombaim,” which is alleged to be derived from the phrase “Bom Bahia,” or “Beautiful Bay.” For the linguistic convenience of the English and others it was described to be a perfect name.

Then one day in 1995 Shiv Sena came along. He was the leader of the right wing Hindu Nationalist party won the elections in the State of Maharashtra and decided to rename me Mumbai. But why? What was wrong with my original name?

Firstly, they say it carried and unwanted legacy of British colonial rule and my new name carries patriotic and nationalistic notions. Secondly, they wanted to name me after the Hindu goddess Mumbadevi, a patron deity. My name now comes from a combination of “mumba” and “ai”, both of which mean mother in Marathi.

I have to admit, although Mumbai is officially my new name. Marathis, Gujaratis and the locals have always called me Mumbai; whether it was the influence of others, their dialect or a nickname of Bombay; I do not know. (more…)

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The Alchemy Festival began on Friday, with some fantastic music, dance, debate and fashion. Over the 11 days of the festival there’ll be a brilliant group of Alchemists seeing and blogging about Alchemy. They are writers, dancers, photographers and artists from around the UK, India & South Asia. So here they are!

Charlotte Emily is an artist and explorer who dabbles in performance, photography, writing and child-like doodles. She is particularly inspired by storytelling and moments in everyday life. iamcharlotteemily.tumblr.com

Nathalia Mello is a Brazilian performance practitioner, living and working in the UK, London. She artist graduated in Theatre Direction by the Rio De Janeiro Federal University (2007) and master of Dance Theatre: The Body in Performance, graduated at Trinity Laban. Her current research explores territories marked by water and soil. ‘Abscene: A young female from the Tupinimos tribe from Water Which Hides Itself, says I do today’  is the performance of theatricality and politics of self-representing, being currently developed since May 2010.

Krupa Vekaria is a 2^nd year LLB Law and German student at the University of Warwick. In her spare time she enjoys dancing, reading and undoubtedly shopping! Her favourite cuisine besides Indian is Mexican and one item she needs with her all the time is my iPOD!

Hannah Anderson-Ricketts began training at Lewisham College she is now a student at London Contemporary Dance School. Hannah has worked with Katie Pearson, Sean Graham Dance Theatre, Vocab Dance Company, Uchenna Dance Company and Arthur Pita. She is currently a member of Just Us Dance Theatre.

Sumitra Upham is an aspiring curator and writer who seeks to commission, develop and manage creative projects with a focus on exploring new sites of practice for curating within new media and performance. In doing so, she seeks to use her curatorial practice as a tool of communication to provoke and encourage current debate and engaging with new audiences.

At present, she is undertaking her masters in Curating Contemporary Design in partnership with Kingston University and The Design Museum London, whilst freelancing as project assistant for Art on The Underground.

Puja Mistry is 18 years old and currently on a gap year before studying medicine at university next year. This is her first time blogging, and she hopes to explore interests outside of her studies. Puja’s main intersts are dance, Taekwondo  photography.

Myrto Williams is an Illustrator based in London. After graduating from Camberwell in the summer of 2010, she is now working on participation projects with the British Museum and The October Gallery. She is also collaborating with poets and musicians.

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