keepitsafe

It has been an exciting time putting my thoughts into visual formats, something I hesitated doing for the longest time. There were battles with the sense of perfection and what art should look like, which I have overcome finally! With Visual Leadership, I have immersed myself in making drawings that make me happy! Version 1 of my Manifesto looked like this. Manifesto Version 1 When I began working on Version 1 my ideas were merely disparate thoughts that outlined what my education/ leadership plan ought to be. I believed in many ideas that were largely participatory and inclusive, but it was missing crucial pieces. As the course unfolded new ideas emerged and strengthened my core beliefs. I used to think , Leadership was a far away space hidden in corporate boardrooms or in power corridors. Now I think , leadership is in the everyday actions of individuals. True leadership is when the agency and wisdom of a group are given voice. Leadership need not merely be a top-down ...

Keeping in mind my initial tussle with documentation, I decided to make my process "Alive". I documented a session of play in my building. I was curious to observe how decisions are made, how homogeneity emerges within a group during play, and how leadership effects or creates conflict in play.   I used notes & photographs (of important moments / mind shifts) to document my experience.  As a part of taking documentation back, I created narrative charts which were displayed on the corridor for the children to view and contribute their own views.  My co-documenter also helped add new frames, perspectives to what we had witnessed, making it evident that varied viewpoints actually add to the process. At the end of this experience I concluded that documenting need not be conclusive (as I had feared), if anything the process demands deep immersion and analysis, and creates dialogue to understand an environment better.  My Documentation Plan  Taking documentation b...

Documentation as an idea at the start made me extremly uncomfortable, I found it tedious. I questioned the need for more data in our already data overloaded world. But then I read The Logic of Care by Anniemarie Mol  and The Role of a Teacher  by Loris Malaguzzi, and my initial doubts began to slowly wither. I began to see documentation as a process of honest witnessing, my only doubts were around developing a process that was not cheoregraphed. It was also vital for me that my documentation was alive, just like the events that I was witnessing.  Below are my initial forays around the idea of documenatation, doubts, knots and all !  Is Listening a form of care?  Seeing documenation as Listening or Care. Making my own documentation plan. 

As I started to synthesize my data, I decided to do make it by hand. Through handmaking, I attempted to add one more layer of immersion to the problem I was studying, and the emotions surrounding handmaking.  In studying my problem (both collecting and documenting) I had decided to handmake in many ways - 1) At the pottery studio to understand the maker mindset 2) make using technology, turn my interviews into little films 3) handmake phase 1 of synthesis.  Handmaking a synthesis report  What has emerged from this immersive exercise in handmaking are more questions about the universality of making and also an intensified belief in the power of handmaking. This sort of contradiction makes it a conflicting space to be in. The questions that have resurfaced will be drawn out and reexamined in Part 2 of the Synthesis.  In Part 1 of synthesizing I saw myself making all my thoughts visual (also drawing from the Visual Leadership course). Through making thoug...

Empathy Maps created using Mixed Tape for a few people that I interviewed. I chose these people based on age and nature of work done by them.

Objective: How are emotions of making by hand different from being led by a machine? Are the core emotions of all making the same? How does the environment guide/aid making? How does practice and time work on skill?  Notes on Preparation: 1) Where did your journey begin? How long till you master the trade? 2) What parts of your body are used the most in your job? How are they/ are they interlinked? 3) What does making to do to you? What are your innermost emotions? 4) Can you name the emotions that you experience while you make or are they subliminal changes in the body? 6) How do you overcome the challenges posed by fixing? 7) Does fixing allow you to create your own style of working? 8) How does pace affect your interactions with your work? Amjad Bhai master tailor with over 40 years of tailoring experience.  Discussion:  I interviewed Amjad the master tailor and Abu Basher the master embroiderer. Both these masters have over 40 years of experience. They both work on co...