Art is a very potent tool for making effective interventions. The Negotiating Routes project of Khoj — an alternative space led by artists for experimental art — makes use of it by having artists, artist groups and professionals propose projects which are site-specific and with an interdisciplinary approach. “Zameendari Zimmedari: From Land Ownership to Responsibility”, a recently publication has resulted from this engagement. The project aligns with the philosophy of the Negotiating Routes, which combine a research based practice and formal art making by artists and local communities addressing the visible and invisible transformations taking place in their immediate environments. It encourages the archiving of local knowledge and mythologies about various ecologies like the flora, fauna, home remedies, stories and folklores, while encouraging a dialogue between the artist and the community resulting in an action or project.
Alex White Mazzarella, Namrata Mehta and Soaib Grewal collaborated after receiving a Negotiating Routes: Ecologies of the Byways grant for their project ‘Reconciling Ecologies in the Millennium City’ in 2013. The trio entered Tigra, a traditional village that has existed for seven generations in what is today Gurgaon. Tigra and its agricultural land were slowly being altered by immense economic pressures, high-rise developments, and the arrival of a new lifestyle. The authors through their art tackle the issue of changing ecology in the book. “Over the course of the month we listened to local’s stories and experiences, created spaces and held events for open discussion and activities where stories and sentiments could be shared amongst residents. These conversations bore witness to accounts of community, power, culture, and values as they collide and change, now documented through rich visual ethnography, artwork and writing in a book tracing the path from Zameedari to Zimmedari,” says Namrata Mehta, one of the authors of the book.
Alex White Mazzarella, Namrata Mehta and Soaib Grewal came together almost as a way of joining the dots. They work as a multidisciplinary team with varied experiences in design, research and social art practices. While Namrata is an artist, Soaib and Alex are urban planners. The book is dotted with illustrations, drawings, sketches and photographs for instance a farmer’s interview is accompanied by a sketch or a mall in question is described through an illustration.
