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III. Storytelling through Artefacts
This section features the map-books that the students in the workshop have created for visitors in the city of Ahmedabad. Map making, paper folding, journal making, storytelling, design thinking and systems thinking were all blended into the process. They mostly re-looked at known places with different lenses. Eventually the process transformed most of them as they discovered so many hidden or invisible aspects of their own city, but more importantly most of them discovered aspects of themselves that were unknown to them. The inquiry to know a part of their place that they wanted others to know better led to conversations, surprises, questions, realisations, reflections and contemplations.
ટીન દરવાજા
Teen Darwaza
Teen Darwaza, the three doors, is a map book that explores the neighbourhood of Ahmedabad with the same name. With the interplay of folds and ideas, the map book becomes a metaphor for the three doors of the storyteller’s perceptions, reality and shifts in perspectives, with respect to the people she met. The assumptions, stereotypes she used to nurture within, and hence the fear, dislike and discrimination she used to carry within her about certain communities, got washed away as she had an actual interaction with people from these communities. The three doors created in the book, through the three distinct parts, are the perceptions she earlier had, the experiences she had and the shifts that have taken place in her mind.
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This group went to the neighbourhood of Prahladnagar in search of stories. Prahladnagar is generally known for high-end shopping. The map book is a visually rich documentation of the many lanes and by-lanes of this area. The interesting visuals with their details are interspersed with the vanity and superficiality of the modern brands and hidden stories beneath those. The over-whelming details of the visual representation but lack of stories in the book almost becomes a metaphor of the place. The visual chronicle indeed showed an interesting juxtaposition of the hollowness of the so-called rich, famous, well-known stores, which were depicted through minimal basic shapes and colours, bereft of richness of layers, along with the richness in terms of narratives and visuals that slowly get added as they shift towards the not-so-famous, so-called ordinary stores, where there was care, attention, warmth and hospitality.
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પ્રહલાદનગર
PRAHLADNAGAR
મણક ચોક
Manekchowk
Manekchowk, a frequently visited place in Ahmedabad, was explored in this box-book. The shape of the book was a metaphor of the place which is known and yet unknown, explored yet unexplored, almost like a box of stories that is waiting to be opened. This journey talks about that part of Manekchowk that is yet to be seen by the visitors. The shape and folds of this map book creates a sense of playfulness for those who would use it, and each fold unfolds that which is invisible.
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શાહી બાઘ
Shaahi Bagh
Everyone in Ahmedabad knows about Shaahibagh. This group delved into the unknown stories of this neighbourhood to uncover struggles, inspirations, despair and motivations. The powerful narrative design blended with the form created a compelling narrative where each fold contained a narrative that was interesting, but more importantly inspiring. In a fast moving world, to the utter surprise of the explorers of this neighbourhood, the people were happy to pause and share their stories with the visitors.
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The narrative structure of this map book is quite unique. The map book compares and contrasts the developing and the developed with respect to this neighbourhood, and each street explored has been interpreted based on the characteristics they portrayed or the insights generated while unearthing the hidden layers of the stories located in those streets.
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સી. જી. રોડ
C. G. Road
Lessons from the Doorstep - Two students chose to explore the road most travelled, the road just outside their college. The assumption would be that one knows that road inside out. But their journey turned out to be one that not just showed how little they knew about the apparent known, but gave them life lessons. The interactions with the ordinary gave extra-ordinary insights and philosophy of life, acquired from the vendors on that street. They learnt that our assumed expectations do not let us see what is out there right in front of our eyes. This map book indeed played with the folds where each fold when opened, opens up a new way of thinking and looking at the world, revealed through the conversations of the ordinary people who earn a living on this road.
એચ.એલ. રોડ
H. L. Road
મેમરી લેન
Down Memory Lane
This is about a neighbourhood where one lived her childhood. This book is an attempt to reconstruct that neighbourhood, by actually walking down the lanes of this neighbourhood from her memory, in order to find out how much had changed and how much had actually managed to stay the same in more than a decade, in a fast-moving world. The scrapbook like non-linear structure of the book depicts the back and forth movement to find the lanes from the memory, much of which was fuzzy!
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લૉ ગાર્ડન
Law Garden
Law Garden is another well-known place in Ahmedabad. What overwhelm one in this area are the overpowering visuals of traditional clothes and food. This book is an attempt to explore the area beyond these two.
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