​
ADVENTURES OF HAMZA NAMA
Our first year started by introducing us to the adventures of hamzanama. It had various scenic stories situated in the sometimes
mystical sometimes realistic realms. Shortly we were divided into groups of 4/5 and each group had to choose one of the stories shortlisted by the faculty to work on.
The story our group choose was - OF WHAT PASSED WITH AMIR HAMZA ON THE WAY TO MOUNT QAF
This story is situated in a somewhat fictional realm. It talked about an iron wall of indeterminate antiquity, a dome, a huge iron chest full of artifacts hanging from the roof that no ordinary human mortal could have brought down.
Each student in the group was supposed to make experiential drawings; drawings that give you the experience of the bits of the story. We were introduced to a new medium that was charcoal, a nuanced, multifaceted medium. These drawings were very versatile, leaving behind the taught perspective drawings and exposing us to various forms such as miniature paintings with a sense of multi-dimensions to them. It was a soft yet powerful way to express themself.
The next stage of this course included making conceptual models that would be further developed in human-scale installations having the essence of drawings.
We mainly as a group worked with the experience of expanse/ expansion.
conceptual model
process
For curating this in reality, we started by making the three circular rings from wooden strips. The method here used was Glulam, which is basically what one obtains by stacking some boards or laminations on top of each other and gluing them together. To get a circular frame we first marked our respective diameter circles on the ground and then pegged woods on the boundary followed by glulam and then clamped it together overnight.
The wood when soaked in hot water can bend much more easily. We couldn't get access to hot water at that time so we tried the same with cold water, but it wasn't very effective. The next step was to connect these three rings. The material we chose for these connections was tangus. holes were drilled and through them tangus thread and such the three rings were joint. Now the big task was hanging this whole thing such that it is above the human height at approx. 2m from the ground. Tangus was tied to Columns at the three corners of the terrace and was thrown down which was then tied through the drilled holes of the topmost ring. The whole thing then was pulled up to adjust the height level from the ground.
final installation
This course became very important as we were slowly breaking down the taught notions. The way we draw or the initial thoughts when we commenced our drawing was perspective, to get out of that loop was the foremost challenge. With that came the skill of producing one thing as a group, the synergy of different people, thoughts, perspectives, skills, and new bonds.
In the process, we learned different carpentry skills, worked with different materials, and got to know tools like drilling machines.The team spirit through this course, the way everyone helped each other with their projects, and the newness with growing familiarity, were some of the beautiful things about orientation.