I don’t spend too much time on social media or my phone, as it were. I spend it on my computer when I do. I prefer watching on a big screen. I browse the internet and go through posts more than reels. I look at YouTube videos to learn. I don’t doom scroll on any device. I choose to learn and then get to my studio and work. I like knowing that I put in the work, worked within limitations (some put by myself and others imposed on me). My husband tells me I am an aberration!
I am not a middleman – I do the work. And that is important to me. But I also get that no man is an island, and sometimes I need help from others.
There is a pattern that I have noticed, and it leads me to questions. I don’t have the answers, but I would like to know if you have noticed the same thing and what your take is on the same.
Does the finished artwork automatically become more shareable, saleable or valuable because the artist used sea shells or brass bowls as paint reservoirs, rather than old steel bowls or plastic containers?
The narrative of using old ‘romantic’ vessels seems to give the end-posted work traction as opposed to the quality of the work itself. So, is the narrative and the packaging more important? Notice I said more and not equally…
Does a kurta made in a village by village women or an NGO supporting women intrinsically have more value than a craftsperson doing the same thing in their home studio?
Somehow, there is a lot of virtue signalling in having bought from a cluster of marginalised women trying to eke out a living, then buying from an independent creator who is also creating by hand, from start to finish. And there is no middleman involved, as is usually the case with almost all buying that happens from labels or clusters…
The other day, I read a post about a second-generation immigrant in the US preparing for her latest art show, and she talked about her immigrant experience and the horrors of partition. Of how she was told about the partition as bedtime stories.
I find that very strange.
I have two children. I still live in this country. I am half a sardarni. My grandfather went back into Pakistan to get people out while leaving my then one-year-old mother and my young grandmother hiding under the station master’s desk. But he rarely talked about his experiences. I learnt about them from others.
On a side note, I think it is abuse that you would tell your children about the horrors of partition as bedtime stories!!
Somehow, in this story too, the artwork itself could be questionable, but the stories of partition tend to glamourise and give more nuance to the artwork than it may have on artistic merit alone.
Is the value attached to a product because of the narrative associated with it, or the actual work involved?
Some things to think about. Do you have thoughts/views on this? Do share. I would love to read and change my viewpoint if another one that makes sense comes along…
