Page 85 - Dimple B Shah - Presentation-2019_Neat

Bring me the taste of Earth and I bring you taste of Love

The idea of the proposed Performance was to establish connection to historical aspects of Jaipur. Jaipur is one of the oldest
city and its architecture is old as 300 to 400 years every stone of the city is embedded with history within. The city has lots to
share, from small to big stories of people who lived in this place. Strange and curious stories are embedded in the walls of the
city, the people of city who have seen city growing in ages can share lot of untold stories.
I viewed the pink city through an archeological perspective and I would like to perform as a sort of an archeologist who wants
to collect evidence as much as possible from the historical reminiscence of the city, in this process I become part of it merge
with it, camouflaging self with city. I turned myself in pink through ritualistic and per formative act, becoming one with the city
turning myself in pink in my mind, heart and soul. The essence of city can be found in various sources in its old historical
buildings, be it city streets and lanes, or in its air, in colors of stones and bringing the real essence of pulsating and breathing
city not only Capturing its past but the present, which stands for rich Historical and Cultural heritage. Through various
alchemical processes of collecting grinding filtering and using the earth I will involve myself to become part of it. Finding and
collecting evidences to understand the art and culture of the city. One need to dig deep to understand the city and it is possible
only through close observation of objects, remains like stones and bricks which has embedded history. This performance will
be collaborated with common audience; they will become part this intervention when they lend their contribution by
participating in the performance and share peace of pink earth and share oral history of the place, and in return take back
token of love from artists which is mix of flavors.
This project is kind of personal journey, a process where I become part of space I visit and live in for some time and establish
connection. To understand culture one needs to live not only in monuments, old literature but also connect to local people and
know more through oral histories which surely add varied and unique dimension to known histories. My focus will be making a
collective cultural memory, about individuals and also shared spaces, personal /collective journey of self local communities. It
is a process through which we resurface invisible memories into the visible mode. It is a cultural discourse of understanding
historical city. The performance is to collect the essence of city, reminiscence of rich history of the pink city, and also about
dissolving myself in the color and culture of the city.
“We are what we remember. If we lose our memory, we lose our identity and our identity is the accumulation of our
experiences. When we walk down the memory lane, it can be unconsciously, willingly, selectively, impetuously or sometimes
grudgingly. By following our stream of consciousness we look for lost time and things past. Some reminiscences become
anchor points that can take another scope with the wisdom of hindsight. ("Walking down the memory lane") - Erik Pevernagie
Materials for performance – Red clay (Geru), Small Scarp pink stone, grinding stone, bricks, Natural colors, etc
Dimple B Shah October 2016