From Market to Dumping Ground - Matheran Waste Cart Procession

From Market to Dumping Ground - Matheran Waste Cart Procession | Site Specific Performance Collaboration by Chiman Dangi and Brydee Rood 2015 |  Matheran Green Festival. 

Spurred from the context of life in Matheran Hills, a performance action, which involved high-jacking a working rubbish collection cart, and honouring its workers and the process of waste collection by unfolding a series of a sacred rituals throughout the procession from the main market place to the Matheran Dumping Ground. We created garments from silver plates, leaf plates and recycled fabrics; we decorated Jharoo with gold and silver foils and ribbons, and used them like warrior’s arms or ceremonial staffs. Our heads were adorned with a crowning 3rd eye for nature something befitting the forest on the forehead and empowering the inner eco warrior and garbage goddess queen.

From Market to Dumping Ground - Matheran Waste Cart Procession was created as a direct response to the environs of Matheran - meaning "forest on the forehead" an eco sensitive Bombay hill station “discovered by Hugh Poyntz Malet, the then district collector of Thane district in May 1850. Today

Matheran is a very curious place, without modes of popular transport cars, bikes, busses… the tradition of riding by horseback, hand pulled cart or walking prevails and impacts positively on daily life an inviting lush holiday destination popular with tourists. On the other hand - the impact and residues of human waste are evident throughout the delicate habitat. Plummeting breath taking views into Matheran’s green valleys are belied by accumulated carpets of thrown plastic bottles, food packets, snack plates… The evidence of a contemporary human presence carelessly left in the wake of their collective daily life. 

Animism

Animism |  Chiman Dangi 2014 | Site Specific Installation with the NIV Art Center Mount Abu, Sirohi, 2014 INDIA Materials: Natural rock formation, Indian pigment powder and foil paper

Scenes of Invisible

Scenes of Invisible | Environmental Installation and Social Art Project | Andor Village Rajasthan India | Chiman Dangi 2010

The village of Andore was filled with cries of laughter and happiness as the children participated in my installation,indicating a new activity and garnering the attention of the public. The previous night I had sprinkled colourful pigment powder on the ground around piles of rubbish and written hand made signs of the village name 'Andore' pointing into the garbage. The next day the public gathered, looking inquisitively at me as I continued going around the village casually circling garbage areas with the local pigment powder and placing 'Andore' signs. Initially there were some raised eyebrows, awkward and confused reactions to this action. The villagers were curious to know why a pile of garbage was being associated with their village name. As the onsite installation replicated around the village, they soon got involved. After some introspection the underlying social message dawned on the villagers. The local authorities and community worked together collecting all the rubbish lying around, signifying the success of my project. Not only the villagers realised how lovely it is to live in a clean environment, but the village was now ready to welcome all the guests participating in the “Sowing Seeds” international art residency.         

Picnic at Brahmpol

Picnic at Brahmpol 2013 | Installation Performance Video | Chiman Dangi and Brydee Rood

The painful condition of Udaipur’s streets and lakes is easily ignored by city’s denizens. Our conscience is dead. We do not care anymore or, may be, we are so busy with our personal and professional life that we are not able to contribute in the cleanliness of our surroundings; but that’s a lame excuse to make.

Hurt by the ignorance of the Udaipurites towards the nature, a freelance artist from New Zealand, Brydee Rood, along with a local artist Chiman Dangi, tried a unique way of arousing the emotions of the people towards the cleanliness of Udaipur’s lakes today at Brahmpol.

They named today’s program as ‘Brahmpol Picnic’. Both the activists wore orange plastic cloths and a huge orange plastic balloon over their heads which attracted attention of the passersby. In utter smell of the openly dumped garbage, they started their work by highlighting the garbage with colorful powder.

They also made a sequence of 100 silver colored paper plates to attract the attention towards the garbage. Thereafter, they did a videography of the dumped garbage to showcase it at various public platforms.

Chiman Dangi said, “We are strange people. When we do not receive rainfall, we conduct Yagya to attract the rain god. But after we get the rainfall, we do not even care to clean the lakes for the purity of water”. Brydee said that Udaipur is a beautiful city but people are ruining it by hiding from their responsibilities. They know about the harmful effects of plastic but still they do not stop using it.

It is high time when Udaipurites should stop behaving like an ostrich that hides its head in the ground when it feels danger. Dangerous effects of dirty lakes are a lot more intense than how we perceive them.

Collaborative Art Project 

Chiman Dangi INDIA | Brydee Rood NZ

Text by Gaurav Bhandari

Untitled Land

Untitled Land | A collaborative site specific installation and performance by Chiman Dangi and Brydee Rood situated around a vacant lot come wasteland on Ambamata Temple Road, Udaipur, India 2013 | Materials: Local pigment, assorted rubbish bags, raincoats, auto rickshaw, solar lights and miscellaneous reused waste material. Photographers: Sunil Nimawat and Vijendra Devra. Link to article about Untitled Land