Posts by Tara Chowdhury
Maybe it’s a Leap for Joy!
Initially when I saw Richard Hambleton’s shadowy painting, I wasn’t wearing my glasses and what I would later find that the painting was not of someone jumping for joy, but was something much darker. Even now, I can see it being an uplifting piece, but the colors are so muted and dark that I know it just can’t be. The figure’s hands hold this orb over its body, but it doesn’t look like he’s straining to hold it. Instead, its knees are bent outwards and the heels of its feet meet. Or maybe it IS an uplifting piece because you see, through the dark shading, lighter areas that imitate an actual light coming through on the painting. The painting almost reminds me of Buddha- the stereotypical image of Buddha has Buddha with his legs folded and his hands over his lap. The shadow painting looks like a stretched out version of the image of Buddha standing.
Many of the paintings show the effect that AIDS epidemic had on victims and families. And that goes to why I feel like this piece might not be dark- the orb that the figure is holding is maybe the weight of the disease. But still, the figure is not straining to hold the weight; it is not crushing him. Instead, the weight doesn’t even make full contact with the hands.The lightness has to symbolize a form of hope, and this figure is more of a warrior than anything else. So maybe it is a leap for joy- a message that AIDS is not the end of life.
M. Butterfly
The dialogue in the play was incredibly engaging and so easy to digest, even if the events unfolding weren’t. I love that the play broke the fourth wall and somehow, having Gallimard ask Butterfly not to explain her side of what happened or expose what really was happening behind the scenes wasn’t off-putting at all. Instead, it emphasized his fantasy of Butterfly and his love for the idea of her, as well as . In some ways, it seemed like he reacted more to those moments than when Butterfly actually exposed himself. Even in those moments, Butterfly was tender with Gallimard and it didn’t seem like things ended badly between the two; there was a huge contrast between the way Butterfly talked about how he tricked Gallimard into believing he was a man and the sex between them and the way Butterfly tried to coax Gallimard into telling his audience the full truth.
Another aspect of the play that I loved was how props and background took up very little of the stage space, but also wasn’t something that I found crucial to the performance except for in the traditional scenes. Colors and backgrounds were mostly instrumental when it came to displaying Communism takeover in China or just showing Chinese culture. When it came to showing Gallimard by himself or him working with his superiors or talking to his wife, the colors were drab and the backgrounds were dull compared to the bright hues of yellow and red that came up any time the cultural music made a comeback. Everything about the romance between Gallimard and Butterfly was colorful and Butterfly was always colorful up until the moment the two had to appear in court, and Butterfly was in a black and white suit. When Butterfly tried to assume her original, colorful outfit that he believed would make Gallimard recognize his love for Butterfly, it just no longer had the same effect.
A Map of the Ground
On the ship that represents the plight of the Africans who were brought unwillingly to New York is an engraved map of the African Burial Ground that shows its size and location relative to its surroundings. Our group loved the representation and it inspired a “Draw My Life” approach to our project. We want to frame the video as a “Draw My Life”- for the very beginning at least- and start it off with us exploring the location of the ground or at least keeping it in perspective.
The size of the burial ground is remarkable- it winds through five city blocks, but the monument itself takes up one city block. It’s incredible to think about all of the graves that are underneath the ground and how much history is buried there. It’s also horrifying to think about how people tried to recklessly excavate this vast site. I think the map also speaks to how isolated the ground is. I passed by the African Burial Ground every day for four years and had no idea what it was or that it existed until this year. Chances are, if you ask anyone, they also won’t know what the African Burial Ground is unless they work on that block, where the information center also is. The burial ground, not just physically but also the idea of it, seems to exist only within this space. Our group found that tragic.
The entire point of our I-Movie is to raise awareness of the ground, but also celebrate the history of these people. We are aiming for our video to showcase the burial ground and explain its significance, hopefully inspiring other people to check out the ground and look at the images of hope dispersed throughout it.
The African Burial Ground
When the ground was disrupted in 1991 and 419 sets of remains were excavated and studied, the African American community was outraged and maintained that the excavation was disrespectful. The African people fought for the stories of their ancestors to be respected and memorialized. Later, researchers and government officials realized that the preservation of this site meant that every artifact should stay with the people the artifacts were buried with and that the people should remain untouched. Excavators returned the remains. It was because of this realization that the African Burial ground was born.
The monument was covered in symbols: letters representing Islam, peace, nature, guardianship, the signature of the spirit, divinity of mother earth, imperishability and endurance and the supremacy of God. On each side of the ship, on the floors and across the monument are these African symbols that were hand carved in African countries. There was this implicit feeling of hope and it makes sense because that was all these Africans had when they were enslaved in New York. The symbol pictured is the Asase Ye Duru which stands for Divinity of Mother Earth. It literally means that the Earth has no weight. The symbol emphasizes the preservation of the planet and how people have an obligation to respect the grounds they walk on. It’s particularly fitting because it is everything the African Burial Ground stands for- the preservation of African stories.
Buried Child
Buried Child was equally dark and horrifying in script and in the 1996 Broadway production. From the get-go, the play is witty; Dodge and Halie are bickering in a way that’s all too familiar. However, it was very different watching it than it was reading it. In my head, the interaction went much faster. The groans and shouts were quicker, simply humorous. While watching the film, I kept wishing that it would go faster because it was exhausting watching Dodge- almost as exhausting as it must have felt for Dodge. It was almost as if the film wanted us to feel as stuck in time as the family was. Any theme of abandonment was amplified in the film because there was a clear emptiness. From the beginning, it was strange watching Dodge sitting alone while Halie screamed from the top of the stairs. Even though I knew she was offstage, it was easier to see how alone the characters were on film. Dodge and his sons rarely were close to each other. It seemed like the closest characters got to each other (besides the affair between Father Dewis and Halie) was when Bradley stuck his fingers in Shelly’s mouth.
Which brings us to another moment- what was up with the fingers in Shelly’s mouth? It was offsetting to read, but even more uncomfortable to watch. It was more aggressive than I imagined and so slow. In that moment, Bradley is powerful and threatening, but we see that followed by him powerless after he loses his leg, dragging himself all around the living room. The shift in power is much easier to keep your eye on in the film. You see the physical decay of Vince, the gradual comfort that Shelley begins to feel, how pathetic Father Dewis is. The production plays up the dynamics of the characters or at least forces you to really take notice.
Pina Bausch’s Works
Watching Café Müller and The Rite of Spring was a completely foreign experience for me. I definitely did not know what to expect, but Café Müller was not in the realm of anything I expected. I watched six bodies interacting with each other, sometimes manipulating another figure, slamming another into a wall or helping another navigate without hitting furniture. At the end, I turned to Jason and went, “What just happened?”
I wasn’t able to piece together a significant moment, but maybe that was the point. Maybe the idea was to watch these different people going through their different actions and feeling different themes arise. The first thing that I felt was the repetitiveness and I coupled that with the theme of habit. The man kept positioning the girl and the boy until they eventually began to carry out a routine because of a force of habit. There was this dependence on another person throughout the performance- a dependence on someone being there for a hug, or a dependence on the men moving chairs out of the way.
The Rite of Spring, still foreign, was a very different from watching Café Müller. From the beginning, the dancers captured my attention. Throughout Café Müller, I never knew what to focus on and felt like I was always missing something. With The Rite of Spring, the dancers were so in-sync and so together that I felt like I captured the entire picture. While the background was dark and gloomy, the floor covered with dirt, the entire performance felt alive. Café Müller just struck me as incredibly creepy. I felt more invested in The Rite of Spring, probably because I felt like I understood it, and even audibly gasped when the man chose the girl who would later dance to her death. The Rite of Spring was all about movement and telling a story while Café Müller seemed to be more about placement and letting you come up with connections.
Love and Loners
This image embodies the spirit and aesthetic of the High Line. Initially, the photo seems filled with the image of the old, vandalized, red-bricked building. On second glance, there’s the juxtaposition of the old building with the new skyscrapers complete with intricate designs and expensive materials. There’s an obtrusive tree that overlaps the old and the new, but the reason I chose this picture to represent the High Line is because of the people in it.
On the left, you see a couple. There is a girl dressed in dark colors who angles her body towards the boy she is with. They are both grinning and if you look closely enough, you can see the stems protruding from a bouquet of flower next to the boy dressed in bright blue. They are completely unaware that I, like a creep, am taking a picture of them. They are immersed in their own world, utilizing the High Line as a romantic location. It almost even goes into the history of the High Line- the spot was supposed to be one that imbued culture, but turned into a hot, new tourist attraction acting less like a park and more like a business . The High Line became something romanticized.
Just next to them, is a lone young man on his phone. He, or at least his shirt, almost blends into the background. On the High Line, you become a part of the High Line -a part of the art that everyone observes. We passed a man with a pink umbrella, a bunch of performers, a pride flag, sculptures and other objects that were all equally a part of the experience of the High Line. It seemed like everyone in the High Line was either there with their significant other, their family or alone, but everyone still blends into High Line. Even with the performers, sometimes I couldn’t tell if the people watching were a part of the performance.
We, as a class, were a little more like the obtrusive tree in the picture-at least at the very beginning. We blocked the path for other people and some people even stopped and watched us take our picture, almost like we were performers. But by the end, when we found benches to talk on or spots to marvel at, we became equal parts of the High Line.
Comments by Tara Chowdhury
"I think this painting in particular captures the exhibit. I like that you associated anxiety with the painting, and after reading that, I can't separate that feeling from the painting. The colors running through the hair are sporadic. I also can't stop looking at the ears because they just look like two giant, ill-defined yellow blobs. While one eye is clear, the other one appears smudged. The left side of the face looks like it's in deterioration while the other half looks like the deterioration is spreading to it. The left background is a dark blue, while the other half transitions from a light blue to white. Maybe it's a representation of sin or imprisonment in one's body spreading."
--( posted on Dec 5, 2017, commenting on the post
Club Insanity )
"I think it's really interesting how you used your perspective of what is and isn't feminine to shape how you saw the play or even to relate to the characters within the play! I loved the references to Madame Butterfly and also thought it was interesting how Song ridiculed Gallimard and scoffed at the typical story of an Asian woman having to be saved by the strong, white man. Even though it seemed like Song was playing Gallimard, it also became obvious that Song was falling deeply in love with Gallimard. He seemed to hate having to report back on Gallimard and I think those scenes where Song gets to explain his side of the story really exemplified the love the two felt for each other because they seem to want to brush over anything that isn't part of Butterfly and Gallimard's story."
--( posted on Nov 23, 2017, commenting on the post
M. Butterfly – A Paralleled Universe )
"I've also never been to the Plaza Hotel, and it seems evident that there's a lot going on there! I think it's so fascinating that there was a masquerade ball going on- an idea that for me seems more like a movie concept or an occasion that was only common in the past. Doing an I-Movie on this will probably feel like an actual movie (and a bunch of movie do center around the Plaza hotel!), but also capture the spirit of New York. It's a clash of so many different cultures and foods and there's the entire current vs. old juxtaposition going on in a single place."
--( posted on Nov 8, 2017, commenting on the post
The Plaza Hotel Visit 1 )
"Not only is this picture gorgeous, but I love this idea! I can't wait to see how you do the flashbacks and what aspects of the ride her flashbacks center around. I also didn't think of capturing sound or smell in the IMovie and can't wait to see how you tackle that. Especially because I haven't seen the Q line, I'm excited for your representation and to relate my experiences on the subway with it!"
--( posted on Nov 8, 2017, commenting on the post
Visit #2 )
"I really like the idea of seeing this as a reflection of the American Dream and didn't think of Hallie reminiscing about her son as being her acknowledging the downfall of it. I think Hallie's way of escaping reality is abandoning Dodge every now and then, but it's strange how she chooses to insert herself back into the family. Even when she's present, she's barely present. You hear her voice, but there aren't many after-effects due to her actions or dialogue. You talking about declining morality reminds me of another play, Angels in America, that also focuses on a decline in morality."
--( posted on Oct 18, 2017, commenting on the post
Response to Buried Child )
"Wow, you attached so much meaning to this and all of it is things that I never would have thought of. I also initially thought that the girls were sleepwalking and then thought they were blind and then didn't know what to think, but I love the idea of her escaping reality to be with her lover. I like the image of The Rite of Spring being a huge scribble because that's almost what it looked like-especially when the girls were all hugging each other (after a moment of relief?). I love that there isn't any one answer or wrong answer, but at the same time, I wish I had a more solid idea of what was going on and what I was supposed to get out of it which probably goes against the entire idea of art. I still think it's incredible that even though these pieces were confusing, they managed to resonate with us."
--( posted on Sep 26, 2017, commenting on the post
The Power Of movement )
"I felt the same way about the performers! That had to be my favorite part of the performance- realizing that the people in the background were separate from what was going on in the middle, but also taking in that all of the people watching were just as much part of the show. A lot of people love the High Line for the scenic landscapes and the view of the sky, but in the picture you take, it seems so unimportant. The background is pretty much a blur and what you can make out are the expressions and poses of the people."
--( posted on Sep 13, 2017, commenting on the post
Life as Art )
