Vandana Shiva has come to the University of Hawaii! 

The following events feature Vandana Shiva (with special guests Andrew Kimbrell and Walter Ritte) as a part of the January 2013 Hawai'i SEED Tour. 

Events: 

Tuesday, Jan. 15  - UH Campus Center Ballroom

                              5pm-Dinner

                              6pm-Presentation

*Because of popular demand, the event was ticketed, and all the tickets are now gone. However, the organizers have arranged for overflow rooms to accommodate an extra hundred people.  The attendees can watch the event on large screens.  Those interested in attending should go early because people will be admitted to the overflow rooms on a first-come-first serve basis. This event will also broadcast live at 6pm on Oleo Cable (channel still has not been assigned) and be streaming live at http://www.olelo.org/live/.

Wednesday, Jan. 16 - 8:30am - "Heleku" March from UH to State Capitol

                                  9:30am - We the People Rally, State Capitol Rotunda

                                  7pm - Presentation at Salvation Army Ray Kroc Center, Kapolei

Thursday, Jan. 17 -  Kaua'i Memorial Convention Hall, Lihue

                               5pm - Seed Giveaway

                               6pm - Presentation

These past few months have been quite intense for me as a graduate student. As I transition into a more focused studio practice in preparation for my thesis exhibition and paper, I continue to go over in my mind the broad range of issues and concerns related to cotton textile production, in all aspects of production and consumption. It is easy to get lost in the details in my search for a focus and methodology in my art practice that would provide a different outlook or perspective on my concerns.
I like to look up words in the dictionary, especially the ones that frequent my mind, words I think I already know the answer to. I am often surprised by the many words and synonyms provided by Wordbook.
For example, today I looked up consumption.

Consume -
verb
1. eat immoderately
2. to serve oneself to, or consume regularly
3. to spend extravagantly
4. to destroy completely
5. use up (resources or materials)
6. engage fully
Synonym: deplete, devour, down, eat, eat up, exhaust, go through, have ingest, run through, squander, take, take in, use up, ware, waste, wipe out.
Antonym: abstain
Origin: c1360, from Latin consumere 'to use up, eat, waste," from com- intensive prefix + sumere "to take," from sub- "under" + emere "to buy, take." Economic sense of consumer (opposite of producer) first recorded in 1746. Consumerism is form 1944 in the sense of "protection of the consumer's interest," modern sense of  "consumption as an economic policy" is from 1960.

Interesting.....

Now lets look at this word:

Ethics:
verb
1. Motivation based on ideas of right and wrong.
2. the philosophical study of moral values and rules.
Synonym: aesthetics, allegiance, assigned task, axiology, bounden duty, casuistry, charge, commitmtne, cosmology, dedication, deference, devoir, devotion, duties and responsibilities, duty, epistomology, fealty, first philosophy, gnosiology, homage, imperative, line of duty, logic, loyalty, mental philosophy, metaphysics, mission, moral philosophy, must, obligation, ontology, onus, ought, phenomenology, philosphastry, philosophic doctrine, philosophic system, philosophic theory,  philosophic inquiry, philosophic speculation, philosophy, place, respect, school of philosphy, school of though, science of being, self-imposed duty, theory of knowledge, value theory

Interesting that the first synonym is aesthetics....

  

Contrast

I have completed my first week back in Honolulu. After a full week of catching up on tasks such as moving in, moving my studio, registering and attending classes, installing an exhibition, and running a chaistall at the opening... I was finally able to take a walk the other day through my neighborhood, searching for a possible new path or shortcut to the beach so I could breath a bit. There were almost no people on my neighborhood streets, no rubbish,  not even little blades of grass that usually grow up between the cracks in the sidewalk and street…it seems sterile and lonely.  There is so much space yet there are fences and walls that serve to divide the space as if to somehow claim and protect it.  Does any of this stuff truly belong to us? Does it even matter? In comparison to walking in the neighborhoods of India, the people here rarely engage with each other – I must initiate the interaction with who I pass on the street. I used to think that Hawaii was so friendly, and it is, really, but that was comparing it to the other places I’ve lived in America. Today I really miss the people of India, the consistent eye contact, the body language, the absence of language skills, and that cute little head wobble that I seemed to have adopted a bit of while in India although I’m not nearly as good at it. I want to keep it as my personal evidence and objectless memento that reminds me that India has somehow found its way to become a part of my body in the months I spent interacting with its people, indulging in its delicious food, wearing its fabric breathing its air and drinking its water.  

The visibility of the rubbish in India is unsettling in the beginning, but after being there for so long and watching the process of what happens to the rubbish, and learning how little rubbish is created by an exponentially greater number of people than what we have here in America. Bins (if India could afford them) would make India appear much cleaner and orderly, although it would require a lot more effort from the people who collect from them, and would likely be impossible for the animals to find their daily meals. I find the invisibility of our rubbish even more unsettling than the rubbish I see in India because it is what remains invisible to me that is more frightening. It is quite difficult to buy what I need in Hawaii without extra packaging that I know will end up in that unknown place – the sea, the air (burned), or underground. How else has all that plastic accumulated in our oceans? India’s heavily packaged items are usually more expensive, and when you purchase food, it is by the kilo, most often without new packaging. They give you a small thin plastic bag that is so thin it is in danger of getting a hole in it before you get home, or it is a bag made of newspaper, a material that is getting its second life of use. In India I reused both the paper and the plastic bags for either my personal rubbish or to transport my shoes or other items. Most things are used more than twice in India, and are used until they are no longer able to serve their purpose. Then the plastic fragments are brought to a recycle center and the paper is often dissolved into the ground, accidentally eaten by an animal or it is also recycled at the recycle center – made into more paper. There are no big trash pickup days in India. As soon as I get my truck repaired I’ll be roaming the streets of Kahala looking for free art supplies for my next work. It was much easier going to the recycle center in Jaipur, and it took a lot less gasoline too. I never found my shortcut to the beach. There were too many fences and walls blocking my way – I had to take the main road all the way around the golf-course.  

Studio Sukriti Artist Residency and Solo Exhibition, the lotos-eaters

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2639969913033.2139174.1069082035&type=3

the above link goes to my public profile Facebook album, Studio Sukriti Artist residency, in Jaipuir, Rajasthan.

You can also check out the UH site, Things to Write Home About,    http://uhmart.blogspot.com/2012/01/sheri-lyles-solo-in-india.html?spref=fb  for another article with more information. 

Day 97 - Jaipur, Rajasthan: the lotos-eaters

“COURAGE!” he said, and pointed toward the land,
“This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon.”
In the afternoon they came unto a land
In which it seemed always afternoon.
All round the coast the languid air did swoon,
Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.
Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;
And, like a downward smoke, the slender stream
Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) The Lotos-Eaters

Jaipur - Things have moved very quickly since I arrive just 10 days ago. Upon my arrival, I had a short tour of Studio Sukriti, where I am having my first professional artist residency. India has shown me many things. It is such an inspiring and beautiful place and yet, I didn't know what I would make or where I would begin. So I decided that my first day would be spent going into the city to see what Jaipur is all about. I began with a visit to the City Palace, where I made fast friends with the gypsy musicians who play classical Indian music and have a puppet show for visitors. They had a long row of puppets that they had made and were selling. I sat and listened to their music, had tea with them and talked with Kishan and his cousin for some time before they played their show for me with the puppets. Kishan told me about his family and invited me to come over for dinner one night...any night, it was my choice - any time I could come I was welcome. He gave me his brother, Ravi's telephone number and told me to call when I could come. I wanted to buy a puppet from them but instead, they gave me one as a gift, refusing to take my money. He said that we were now friends and it was his honor to give a gift to me. 

Ravi and his family are very poor. They live in the colony behind the Nepali Market. His house is a series of concrete rooms that are connected with a few other rooms where his brother and their families all live. The roof is made of pieces of sheet metal and a blue plastic tarp. He has no door and the walkway to his home is a stone path that barely covers a dug out channel of sewage from the showers and toilets. Many other families live here as well, but many have do not have a roof and I have seen some sleeping on the dirt.  Having grown up in St. Louis, Missouri, if it were America I do not think I would have the courage to come into this neighborhood. Trust has been my action plan here in India. I have continued to be myself here, looking people in the eyes, talking to anyone and everyone, and following my heart and instincts.
            When I arrived at Ravi's house, the children were waiting for their nightly music lesson. There were 10 children, ranging from 4 to 12 years old. Many do not go to school. They help their parents make the puppets and work the streets of Jaipur playing music and selling the puppets. Many kids from this area collect plastic and other items that can be sold for money. Many sell items outside the nearby markets. This is the gypsy colony and most of these kids are learning to play the tablas and harmonium, singing the songs and dancing the traditional dances so that they can continue their traditions in the arts as their parents have for generations. Many times their lives are filled with beauty and music, yet it is also a very difficult life. At this time of year, Jaipur is cool and has many visitors who pay them to do events or give tips for the shows they hold around the city. The summer months are very hot, dry, unbearable, and money is scarce. Their homes have no fans much less air conditioning. Being a former resident of Phoenix, Arizona, I cannot imagine being outside in the heat for an hour much less living in it.  We began the evening with some chai tea and the kids sat on the floor around us, filling the 8 x 8 foot room to capacity.

We began the evening with some chai tea and the kids sat on the floor around us, filling the 8 x 8 foot room to capacity. Ravi gave his tablas to his 7 year old son, Ajwaden, who played and led the other children to sing along and clap - there was so much joy in such a small room!  After the lesson, the children were eager to begin their art lesson. I had prepared small cardboard 'tables' for them to use as a surface to draw and paint on. Since we were short of space, we had to skip the mess of paint and instead use crayons, pencils, markers and pastels. The walls were also utilized as a drawing surface. Ravi played a song on tablas that the children were familiar with and learning, while he sang the rhythm to the kids who were instructed to draw what that sound felt and sounded like, using color, line, and space. I was surprised at how easily they shared the materials and space, and how eager they were to help each other. At the end of the class there was no question of keeping the drawings - they each assumed that they were for me to keep. They replaced the caps for the markers and put the materials away in less than 5 minutes time. There was no battle like I had experienced as a mother of two boys, or a classroom parent teachers assistant - yet this was a group of 17 children who do not go to school. While I collected the drawings and explained what qualities were good about each one, I decided that their work should exhibited along with mine at the end of my residency. After all, the energy and joy they share with me is fuel and inspiration or my work and my life right now.  My work is about my perspective and experience in here in India. I have traveled from the north to the south visiting farms, textile companies, NGO's, people’s homes, and meeting weavers, artists, and families. Indian people waste no time with superficial small talk. In the span of one hour the conversation will cover personal details about life, spirituality, philosophy and even politics - there is no distance or difference that creates barrier between us. When one is open and trusting, courage is not needed.   

On January 2nd through the 6th, 2012, I will have my first solo exhibition, the lotos-eaters, at Jawahar Kala Kendra Arts Center in Jaipur. At this show, I'll exhibit the work of my students along with mine. I'll be posting images of the kids and my artistic process as I go...allowing for technological limitations and obstacles such as my hard-drive which no longer communicates with my computer. Such is life…