{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1", "title": "Arboreah", "description": "", "home_page_url": "https://arboreah.com", "feed_url": "https://arboreah.com/feed.json", "user_comment": "", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "items": [ { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2020/02/17/social-media-massacre/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2020/02/17/social-media-massacre/", "title": "Social Media Massacre", "summary": "An interactive fiction made on twine. This game takes the player through anonymized political tweets and social media junk messages to remind them of the futility of social media discourses.", "content_html": "\n

An interactive fiction made on twine. This game takes the player through anonymized political tweets and social media junk messages to remind them of the futility of social media discourses. The player realizes that meaningful conversations are not possible anymore.

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\n", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/6/2022-02-17-12_15_54-Social-Media-Massacre-by-Yadu-Rajiv-and-16-more-pages-Personal-Microsoft--Ed.png", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2020-02-17T06:04:00+05:30", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T04:01:28+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2018/10/17/photography-in-india-from-archives-to-contemporary-practice/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2018/10/17/photography-in-india-from-archives-to-contemporary-practice/", "title": "Photography in India: From Archives to Contemporary Practice ", "summary": "A research project and publication. The project is based on the ethnography of living rooms in Syrian Christian families in Central Travancore locating the genealogy of the family history through…", "content_html": "\n

A research project and publication. The project is based on the ethnography of living rooms in Syrian Christian families in Central Travancore locating the genealogy of the family history through the aesthetics of the photograph. In 2015, I visited several Syrian Christian houses from the area and photographed their living rooms. Most houses had a peculiar yet common feature adorning their walls- the family photo. I argue that orchestrated family photos become an 'event' that creates a distinct memory in the becoming of a family. If you wish to read the full chapter, please email me @pooja sagar.

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The chapter was published in the book: Photography in India, from archives to contemporary practice, edited by Chinar Shah and Aileen Blaney, published by Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. 

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Reviews of the book

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\n", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/7/IMG_3649-scaled.jpg", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2018-10-17T10:26:00+05:30", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T04:00:58+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2018/02/04/times-of-india-literary-festival/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2018/02/04/times-of-india-literary-festival/", "title": "Times of India, Literary festival", "summary": "As the head of studies for the creative writing project, we released our literary publication 'Unselves' at the Times of India Literary festival, Bengaluru 2015. Unselves puts together a collection…", "content_html": "\n

As the head of studies for the creative writing project, we released our literary publication 'Unselves' at the Times of India Literary festival, Bengaluru 2015. Unselves puts together a collection of stories around the theme of identity and the body.  The book release was done by Tishani Joshi, an eminent poet,  in the presence of the students of Creative Writing students of Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology.

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\n", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/9/IMG_20180204_141537-scaled.jpg", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2018-02-04T10:46:00+05:30", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T04:00:45+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2018/01/11/b-rajeevan-a-light-in-the-smog-of-political-despair/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2018/01/11/b-rajeevan-a-light-in-the-smog-of-political-despair/", "title": "B. Rajeevan: A light in the Smog of Political Despair", "summary": "My association with a critic and scholar in Malayalam, B. Rajeevan began in 2007 while I was doing my Masters. Unlike a more common professor-student relationship that usually begins in a…", "content_html": "
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My association with a critic and scholar in Malayalam, B. Rajeevan began in 2007 while I was doing my Masters. Unlike a more common professor-student relationship that usually begins in a classroom, my meeting with Rajeevan happened because I was dating his son at the time. I admit I was lured into that relationship by the prospectus of getting married into a family that has radical views and has actively worked as cultural activists and literary scions for over five decades. I was in, I think, as soon as I heard about the beautiful library in their house.\n\nBeyond the romance, which was dewy and smelled like jasmines, I spent long hours discussing political ideas with Rajeevan, with Savithri by the side. Cups of tea were devoured with peanuts. Rajeevan, at the time, was working on a series of interviews that elaborated a set of questions around the philosophical ideas propounded by Deleuze and Guattari. He was disgruntled by the state of Marxian critical frameworks which were being used without reflection and its inefficiency to account for the current transformations seen in the society thanks to the success of global capitalism. A part of this interview was already published by Mathrubhoomi. Many of the questions I raised during tea were picked up by Rajeevan to comment and discuss, which was eventually published by Madhyamam, and later as chapters in his book Vaakukalum Vasthukalum ( DC Books, Kottayam) and Janasanchayathinte Jaivarashtreeyam ( Raspberry Books, Calicut). He was kind enough to mention my name in these expositions.\n\nB.Rajeevan's awards and bibliography can be found here.\n\nI have translated and transcreated Rajeevan's works from Malayalam as well as co-authored chapters with him. I appreciate the veracity of his ideas when it comes to political analysis of observable phenomena in contemporary Kerala and I continue to learn from him about its social and political history. A recent transcreation can be found below.\n\nBridging the Left-Liberal Divide, Economic and Political Weekly, Aug 2016\n\n ", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/5/26754286_10155902333429034_137596053_n-2.png", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2018-01-11T06:40:56+05:30", "date_modified": "2018-01-11T08:13:55+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2018/01/02/the-grandness-of-smallness-lakshmikutty-amma/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2018/01/02/the-grandness-of-smallness-lakshmikutty-amma/", "title": "The Grandness of Smallness: Lakshmikutty Amma", "summary": "Picture Courtesy: Mahesh Bhat Old Public Works Department Building, Panjim Goa Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, December 2017 I like the opportunities I get to morph into different insects. With the…", "content_html": "
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Picture Courtesy: Mahesh Bhat Old Public Works Department Building, Panjim Goa Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, December 2017\n\nI like the opportunities I get to morph into different insects. With the UNSUNG project, I was being a tiny little ant, carrying a small morsel of food towards a destination predecided by the other important ants in the colony. But to do this part, I was happy. Eventually, we were celebrating the extraordinary grandness of small people, women such as Lakshmikutty Amma living along the edge of the Ponmudi forest in Kerala.\n\nUNSUNG is a project envisaged by Mahesh Bhat who began work on the project in 2004. Through the stories that he collected, interviews and photographs of ordinary folks, presenting their daily life without the frills, transformed into beautiful volumes with extraordinary kindness and warmth in their folds, helped raise almost 9 million to the heroes in the books. The project is an excellent example of how photography can begin to contribute back to its subjects in a more systematic and ethical way. Mahesh writes about this here.\n\nLakshmikutty Amma is a traditional healer. When she is not in the forest collecting herbs for her healing practices, she writes poetry at her small desk. Thematically, her poems vary from concerns about everyday living to aspects of spiritual fulfillment that as humans, we crave. She writes poetry which she calls a parody of life emulating popular verses in Malayalam. In terms of voice and style, she is versatile and as a translator of her writing, I found it a huge challenge to keep up with her Malayalam that sometimes employs classical poetic structures or slips deliberately into colloquial Malayalam at other times. As readers, we are trained to look for voice in writing. We hold on to the conviction that the 'Who' who speaks through the poem has to be the writer itself. The critics of the recent times become a disgruntled lot when they do not see a women's voice in a woman's verse, especially when they do not talk about breasts or body or the feminine experience. Lakshmikutty Amma will give any critic a run for their money by befuddling the voice in her writing. She can easily become a forty-year-old male alcoholic, a hardworking ordinary man or a wise old woman. Yet, in all of them, you see a message for living close to earth and the happiness one can achieve from doing so.\n\nHere is a film about the project which, was presented at the Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa, 2017.\n\nMy gratitude also goes to Karen Dias who worked on the story of Lakshmikutty Amma.\n\n
\n\n \n\n ", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/4/DSC8611-1.jpg", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2018-01-02T07:31:18+05:30", "date_modified": "2018-01-02T08:16:50+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2017/12/19/silk-weaving-communities-of-vijaypura/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2017/12/19/silk-weaving-communities-of-vijaypura/", "title": "Silk Weaving Communities of Vijaypura", "summary": "In 2011, I taught history and writing at Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore. As part of the teaching unit 'Silk Route', I led an expedition of students to Vijaypura, a…", "content_html": "In 2011, I taught history and writing at Mallya Aditi International School, Bangalore. As part of the teaching unit 'Silk Route', I led an expedition of students to Vijaypura, a silk weaving community, and Gopalpura, a silkworm rearing community in the outskirts of Bangalore.  My approach was to teach the history of silk route by delineating its present-day connections. Karnataka is well known for its silk that is locally produced. What is the impact of factory produced silk imported from China on the local handloom industry?\n\nThe students were able to observe the deplorable state of women in the industry as well as understand the volatile nature of the silk market which has led to several suicides of silk farmers in the recent past through the interviews we conducted. More importantly, they were able to value ethical practices in buying and using silk.\n\n
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Small scale ginning factory in Vijaypura\n\n
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Interview with silk weavers in their homes\n\n
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Extraction of thread from the coccoon\n\n
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This process involves dipping your hand into hot water all day. Rashida gets paid Rs.50 per day.\n\n
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Reeling of the filaments\n\n
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Interview with Ashwath Narayana, silk weaver\n\n
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Saree from Silk\n\n
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Interview with women in Vijaypura village", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/3/100_7528-2.jpg", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2017-12-19T09:52:19+05:30", "date_modified": "2017-12-20T03:47:30+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2017/12/19/kritya-international-poetry-festival-thiruvananthapuram/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2017/12/19/kritya-international-poetry-festival-thiruvananthapuram/", "title": "Kritya International Poetry Festival, Thiruvananthapuram", "summary": "The 11th edition of ‘Kritya International Poetry Festival’ in collaboration with Bharat Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram and Raza Foundation, New Delhi was held from 9th to 11th November 2017. Kritya International Poetry Festival…", "content_html": "The 11th edition of ‘Kritya International Poetry Festival’ in collaboration with Bharat Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram and Raza Foundation, New Delhi was held from 9th to 11th November 2017. Kritya International Poetry Festival is a five- day long festival which will see the participation of well known\npoets from India and other countries all over the world.\n\nThe theme of the 11th edition of Kritya International Poetry festival is Poetry against Xenophobia and Racism. This theme has become more relevant in the present times when all over the world there is an atmosphere of hatred and crime against all kinds of minorities whether in gender, race, religion, language, and culture. To reach out to all sections of the society, the poets will be performed at different venues such as The State Central Library, University College, S N College, Chempazhanthy,  Sai Gramam orphanage, and the State Central\nPrison, Poojappura.\n\nI presented two of my poems at the session titled, Young Poets from Kerala.\n\n
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Reading session at Bharath Bhavan, Thycaud
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Session at Bharath Bhavan, Thycaud
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Reading Session at SN College, Chempazhanthy
\n\n \n\n ", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/2/FB_IMG_1510971278339-2.jpg", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2017-12-19T09:11:00+05:30", "date_modified": "2017-12-20T03:48:20+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2017/12/19/weird-fictions/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2017/12/19/weird-fictions/", "title": "Weird Fictions", "summary": "The Weird Fictions project( 2016) is a series of interactive stories, installations and poetry performances that were playfully combined to transform the Cubbon Park Metro Station, Bangalore into a figment…", "content_html": "The Weird Fictions project( 2016) is a series of interactive stories, installations and poetry performances that were playfully combined to transform the Cubbon Park Metro Station, Bangalore into a figment of the imagination, challenging perceptions of reality. Curated on the theme of “going beyond the surface of the ‘known’, this was an experiment on how to develop an urban legend or a conspiracy theory by operating upon people’s inherent fears and fascination with the unknown.\n\nPut together by Pooja Sagar and Jeena Mary Chacko, and the student artists of Srishti Institute of Art Design and Technology, the concept is derived from the genre of 'Weird Fiction' that subverts the natural laws, dissolving the border between the real and the unreal.\n\n
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Festival of Stories at Cubbon Park Metro Station
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Flies in the Weird Curry
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The flies in the curry set off a series of events that put readers in ‘off their skin’ moments, conundrums and simulated environments of weirdness.
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Narratives in the form of scattered diary entries, strange maps, illustrations and fragmented notes seemingly left behind by early explorers.
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Signboards, personal belongings, scribbles and markings that seemingly ‘prove’ the existence of a secret subterranean civilization.
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What secrets lie buried beneath the surface of the Earth? Beneath your very feet?
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Student performers became the ‘beings’ and interact with the audience using scripted conversations, speeches, and handouts to offer the audience an inexplicable, “weird” experience.
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Video installation of slam poetry performances, curated on the theme ‘ What does it mean to be weird?’
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Playful opening into a subaquatic world inside the metro tunnel
\n\n \n\nHere is a film on the Festival of Stories.\n\n
", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/1/IMG_4878-2.jpg", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2017-12-19T08:38:54+05:30", "date_modified": "2018-01-02T08:10:19+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2017/09/14/teaching-graphic-novels-and-comics/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2017/09/14/teaching-graphic-novels-and-comics/", "title": "Teaching Graphic Novels and Comics", "summary": "I am a comics and graphic novel enthusiast and writer. The images are from the classes I have taken at Srishti Institute of art, design, and technology, Bangalore. The students…", "content_html": "\n

I am a comics and graphic novel enthusiast and writer. The images are from the classes I have taken at Srishti Institute of art, design, and technology, Bangalore. The students have worked on panel studies here which lead to the creation of their own A3 comic poster. 

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\n", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/8/Utkarsh2-2.png", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2017-09-14T10:34:00+05:30", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T04:00:37+05:30" }, { "id": "https://arboreah.com/2017/04/04/teaching-writing-for-games/", "url": "https://arboreah.com/2017/04/04/teaching-writing-for-games/", "title": "Teaching Writing for Games", "summary": "At Srishti, I teach writing for games and new media. The images are from the workshops I have taught in which the students are exhibiting their work from the class.", "content_html": "\n

At Srishti, I teach writing for games and new media. The images are from the workshops I have taught in which the students are exhibiting their work from the class. 

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\n", "image": "https://arboreah.com/media/posts/12/IMG_20180404_095556-scaled.jpg", "author": { "name": "Pooja Sagar" }, "tags": [ ], "date_published": "2017-04-04T10:53:00+05:30", "date_modified": "2022-02-21T04:00:28+05:30" } ] }