WAYS OF DOING THINGS
In Ways of Doing Things I document often-overlooked things and practices that I encounter in my daily life in India. These practices follow no specific craft or trend. They are an inherent part of life; a way of doing things that is so common that it usually goes unnoticed. These things and practices are functional yet highly intuitive. They have integrity of form that goes beyond the practical and convey a sense of human attachment that never fails to charm me.
Ways of Doing Things is not about aesthetics or design; I had to shed my western view in order to see things as they are. Despite their low-key appearance, the practices are part of a broader, social-cultural context; they show the resourcefulness of a traditionally non-waste culture.
Practices as reusing, repairing and recycling are deeply embedded in the culture and often not regarded as sustainable practices as such. They are first and foremost 'ways of doings things'.
My focus, in this ongoing visual documentation, is on cloth and the mundane ways it is used in India.
Ways of Doing Things (2013 - ongoing)
visual research / documentation
photography: Eline Groeneweg-Bhatt
MATKA IN PINK & RED CLOTH
Sargasan, Gujarat, 2023
A matka - earthen pot - wrapped in wet cloths to keep the water cool.
A kind and thoughtful gesture – water for all. It's is a welcoming place, the kind you often find in India, unexpectedly, around the corner, at the side of a road. With a tree for shade, a mosaic bench and two chairs that have lost their backs but still function as stools.
A broken chair has become a silent actor in the setting. There is a bowl of water for the cows and stray dogs, a bowl for the birds, and around the corner, out of view, under the tree, one for the monkeys - but they only come at night.
It is the kind of place where you just sit and pause, peacefully and pleasant, waiting for the passers-by to arrive and the conversation to start
