The Meshwork - A new way of seeing
Information Visualization, Systems Thinking, Data Abstraction, Design Research, Field Research
Pre-Thesis Project
August- November 2018
Design anthropology serves as an approach to design
thinking and human-centered design. It prioritizes the
social design process and methodologies and interventions.
The Moodbidri and Malpe meshworks are of
sizes 5ft x 6ft and 6ft x 6.6ft respectively.
The reader can go up close and delve into the
intricacies, follow the lines and understand the
concept of movements through it. Movements,
in general, are inextricably linked to each other
to create a Meshwork. Through this dynamic and
expansive structure of a Meshwork, the project
brings out the interconnectedness and coexistence
between the human and the nonhuman.
Meshwork opens a new area of design research to witness and experience the landscape. The core idea is to look at the ethos of this dynamic landscape and not to propagate ‘issues,’ but to find the extraordinary in the mundane everyday processes. It was imperative to look at the landscape without any assumptions and preconceived notions. Working and experiencing ‘the field’ is highly rewarding. It’s an opportunity for diverse conversations, excavation of multi-cultural layers, and heritage. In my practice, there is a sheer enthusiasm for building a narrative through dialogues, interviews, local and traditional knowledge.
This project unfolded various nuanced ways of recording the field. Walking became an evocative method as we traversed through the landscape of the Western Ghats, drenched in its’ glorious monsoons. Several readings ranging from Henry David Thoreau, Noel Castree, Dilip da Cunha and Tim Ingold, helped me to broaden my thinking and understand the power of conceptualization.
My design intervention, ‘The Meshworks,’ is a new way of looking at the world. A world of movements where paths entwine and interweave every moment. In this world of fluidities, my intervention is a small arena of innumerable possibilities that this project has opened. It’s a way of visualizing and imagining the landscape and its narratives that can lead the audience to witness the unknown/ unseen and mundane. The project demanded to make the work bigger and impactful, thus the complexity and dynamism of the landscape are reflected in the two Meshworks.
And as Tim Ingold puts it “It is of the essence of life that it does not begin here or end there, or connect a point of origin with a final destination, but rather that it keeps on going, finding a way through the myriad of things that form, persist and break up in its currents. Life, in short, is a movement of opening, not of closure.” It’s a relentless journey where several paths collide and at that moment possibilities are vast.
