Negotiate

Drawing animation and video performance projected on plexiglass and sand

Negotiate engages an ancient diagram (Shri Yantra). It functions as “form”, rooted in its history and culture, somewhat frozen in time. Many centuries ago, it was designed as a problem solving tool- the problem being, aiding the mind to focus on meditation. By activating this diagram through animation and performance, I release it from its specificity and “intensify” an inherent potential- one of “virtuality”. The evolution of the work is two fold. The animation dissects the form into infinite moments in time gradually building up and producing the gestalt of a diagram, at a certain point of completion, eventually becoming “still” and standing out as a “figure”. But my interventional performance of making changes to this figure activates it again, dissecting and morphing what is already there. Coupled with the looping installation, it becomes a never-ending repetition of transformation - of becoming figure and then disintegrating into the virtual and becoming figure again. The animation makes the cracks between each mark visible, bringing awareness to the perceptual “bridging “ that enables the marks to be perceived as line and the mind to “oversee” as diagram. The fragmentation and partiality of my experience as a transplanted individual with multiple identities is expressed through incorporating many layers, methods and materials. The erased diagram never fully disappears much like the embodied cultural memory of childhood that leaves indelible traces despite the passage of time.

Link to video documentation: https://vimeo.com/84465353