Peripatetic Painting: Pathways in Social, Immersive, and Empathic Art Practice: Travel, Transience and Cross-cultural Experience

This book documents the practice-led research of painting as a peripatetic art practice through travel and transient life in Australia, India, and Pakistan. Crossing disciplines of Art, Applied Anthropology, and Cultural Geography, painting is explored as a way of negotiating the uncertainties inherent in cross-cultural journeys, and the possibility of connecting with others in their lifeworlds. The ways of navigating and of making that support creativity in the field are identified, as are the multifarious conditions of the field in view of how these shaped painting, and ultimately, the consciousness of the artist through possibilities for empathy, advocacy, and activism. The book includes many images that illustrate the form which painting took in the field and the techniques employed to create these. Interactive links in the eBook edition enable the reader to view documentary films about subjects with whom the artist worked, and that illustrate the field and conditions of making. Throughout the book the reader may also engage with virtual tours of the Australindopak Archive as the art work generated by this research. Preface Acknowledgements Author’s Note Note to the Reader Organisation of Chapters Contents 1 Prologue Forging an Identity Through Painting Every Tribe Has Its Storytellers The World of the Studio and the “Studio of the World” The Kashmir Experience: Painting and Volunteerism The Studio Begins to Disrupt Out of the Studio, Into the World A Format for Peripatetic Painting Belonging to Peripatetic Practice References 2 Pakistan and Australia: The First Scroll: Canberra and Other Ideas The Domain of Diarykeeping Following the Drifting Mind Walking on the Periphery: The Emergence of Themes Meetings on the Margins—The Secret Life of Mushrooms The Language of Collage Being a Gleaner A Lexicon for Travel Painting: Composition The Sleeper Juxtaposition and Its Meaningful Use Expressing Alienation A Language in Company Painting A Language in Satire Meeting Mr Hungy The Way of Bowerbird “Nobody Owns Anything Anymore”—To Use, or Not to Use? Srilamanthula Chandramohan In the Caravan of Ling Possum of Liversidge Street The Merry Go Round in Civic Rabbits of Lake Burley Griffin The Woman Who Runs in All Weather In the Carpark at Kingston Wetlands The Man with the Bicycle Woman in a Corner Maryam Our Lady of the Trolley Planning for the Next Scroll: Influences and Guides References 3 Australia and India: The Second Scroll: Australind Painting in Hunchy Marbling in a Garage: Unorthodox Spaces of Making Hunchy Holding Its Breath Light into Painting Portraying the ‘Imaginal World’ Insights into Planning and Packing From Hunchy to New Delhi Touching the Past Mediating Chaos: Drawing and Film A Carved Door in Old Delhi: Traces of the Colonial Past Meeting Atul Miniature Techniques and Nomadic Painting Empathy, “The Gift of an Attentive Life” Intangible Products, Connection, and Empathy Big Indian Wedding Bridging Realities and Bina Bulbuli’s Day: Storying the Extra/ordinary Kela The Gardener of Gurgaon Yogi Dreams of a Home Navigating Culture: The Pot of Bad Luck Miniature and Life Drawing: Integrating Opposites The Invitation of the Artist: Painting in Public Spaces The Evolving Role of Film Man with a Grin Being ‘Out There’ and ‘In Repose’ From Baroda to Bengal: Noticing Shifts from the Air The Riaz Mohalla Ghosts of Saint Paul’s Cathedral: Painting Phantasmagoria Shonali Alo: A Language of Phenomena Advance Haircut A Boy Comes Singing Chai with Manubhai Under Howrah Station The Story of Rahima Begam Meeting Mousumi Rahima and Mousumi: Visually Bridging Distinct Stories Santiniketan: Painting as Witnessing The Statue of Tagore Sitakshi and the Pink Skirt The College Street Coffee House A Woman Washing Her Sari The Temple of Titli Rupa’s Teashop Biplab, the Revolutionary Homeopath Human With Chitrakars in Naya Culture, Immersion, and Food Performing Stories for Other Families Paintmaking in the Home Shampa of Baidyabati The Kashmiri Kowboy The Two Birds Dinner with Sanchayang Kolkata to Kanpur Sati Chaura—Massacre Ghat Under Modi Mill Flyover: An Opportunity to Re-appraise Practice Sarina Self-portrayal References 4 India, Pakistan and Australia: The Third Scroll: IndoPak A New Scroll Babli of Main Market Understanding Through Drawing The Baba of the Graveyard The Ralli Motif Agency, Painting, and Film “He Acts Like He Owns the Street”: Multi-coloured Realities Pelican Story In Jilani Park My Landlord Yazdani Puppi The Listening Space: Rafhan’s Story Delays, Dis/advantages and Diversion: Painting a Community in Mardan A Subzi Wallah Near Mardan The Language of Absences My Neighbour Omair Dog in a Green Trenchcoat Safia’s Sewing Machine Giving and Its Challenges Tea with Hina The Chickens The Girl in the Rickshaw Remembering, Resistance, and Survival No-Man’s Land Cowgirls of Gurgaon The Art of Border Crossing No Sense of an Ending Post Field Postscript References Appendix Bibliography