BENGALURU: Body is intelligent, maybe more than the mind. To understand your body, its intricacies and miracles, you could start with its building block - the cell.
Taking one single cell as a metaphor, artist cum author, Anuradha Nalapat will take you in an inward journey to understand the alive landscape of your cell. This is part of her series, Stillness Projects, which is on the experience of “being still”. The ‘Cell’ project is the latest in this series.
A 5ft*6ft cell structure will be constructed using bamboo, lights, paints and semipermeable materials that denote the breathing of the cells to create a womb-like structure. Think of it as a tent, where you will sit and ponder about your life journey. You, along with others, will be invited to paint, write or draw a lasting memory (good or bad) on a piece of paper and paste it inside the ‘cell’ or tent.
You are then invited to sit inside the cell and connect to your childhood memories while looking at memories of others. This is to reflect on yourself and the infinite potential that exists in you. The tent is the cell and you are the nucleus.
Cell becomes a representation of infinite potential. “Cell can be many things,” says the artist Anuradha, who is leading this participatory installation. “It can turn into skin or kidney, cells are magical. Come to think of it, you are made up of millions of cells and one cell itself has so much potential.”
Student of Science
Anuradha was a student of science and her paintings always unconciously reflected a cell-like structure. But it was after watching a BBC documentary on the life of a cell that she came up with the Cell and I project. She has been working with children for the past 15 years and has been conducting experiential workshops for the past one year.
Her first experiential workshop was for children in her hometown of Munnar conducted to honour her father, who taught her to appreciate Nature. The school now has incorporated the Stillness Project as a part of their curriculum.
“It started as a project to teach children about Nature,” says Anuradha. The artist believes that, with her current project and a better understanding of cells, an adult could connect to Nature too.
She further explains how cells are constantly communicating with each other and are to some extent more intelligent than minds. “Cells are semipermeable but our minds aren’t,” she says, in a reference to closed minds. “Physically, after 15 days, you become a new you,” she says.
Cells also express unrequited, unconditional love. “Our Cells are dying every minute and new ones are taking its place and we don’t even know about it,” she says.
This is not the first time the workshop is being conducted in the city. Cell and I experiment took place for the first time about two months ago in an office space. It was an in-house workshop.
This time the workshop will be held at Lahe Lahe on December 17.
Experience of an Architect
Dinesh P, an architect took part in the workshop and describes it to be a different experience. “At first I thought it was going to be some sort of exercise but then all of a sudden it became very personal and it was an overwhelming experience,” he said. “Building the structure was not only fun but there was a lot of connectivity involved. The person I had worked with for quite sometime had so much more about their lives than I thought,” he added. Dinesh says how being an architect often gets hectic and you are constantly thinking. At the time of recuperation of the workshop his entire 27 years of his life flashed unto him and made him nostalgic. ”At that point of time I became aware what I was good at. Not at work or skill but as a human being,” he said.