We are honored to have received the Robert Bosch Institutional Grant in 2009 for the support of local art initiatives.
The first awardee was Bhavani.G.S.
Journey With River Cauvery
The Robert Bosch Institutional grant supports 1shanthi road studio to help young artists with their art practice in an effort to nurture local talent. It has been awarded to Bhavani.G.S for her video-“Journey with the river Cauvery”, this small video negotiates the landscape of the river, and it flows through the sacred and secular, private and public domains. The rivers in India are named after women and always refer to mythical origins, the use and control of river waters have been part of the dominant social and political discourses with sharing of waters for irrigation, building dams and harnessing hydro electricity. The visual narrative is a personal journey to locate the urban self and to question the faith that is passed on to her about the purity of water and its mythical and sacred associations heard from oral narratives.
Bhavani explores her relation with the most contested resource of water of river Cauvery and uses her body to navigate through the river till it forcefully reaches the metropolis of Bangalore. The images travel through traditional spaces of worship, contamination, rituals of bathing, washing and other communal activity. This poetic journey through the landscape has references to her earlier site- specific installations and interventions in landscapes using organic materials. This opportunity has opened new possibilities for the future and like the river will endure and nurture the artist.
Suresh Jayaram
"The Residency in 1shanthiroad Gallery/Studio was my first artist Residency. The residency was agreat exposure to me.It helped me work more confidently with new media. The library was very useful – spent lot of time reading.I was able to discuss my work with Suresh Jayram and take his guidance. The opportunity I got from this residency is I got to meet lot of people. I was able to spend more time with the residents here especially Janet, and Jennifer, from Australia with whom I shared my works and got good feed back. Marcus –video artist who visited them also gave me a good feed back." - Bhavani G.S.
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