Sharmila Samant, Artist
I believe a product should convey a message for the betterment of the society.
My handmade sari, made of Coca-Cola bottle caps and linked with metal shackles, criticises the commercial marketing and exploitative labour in contemporary India. When I first made a sari from Coca-Cola bottle caps I wanted to show how homeless children in India were being made to work at street shops. I also added elements of traditional tangail sari, worn during pujo in Kolkata.
As an artist, social changes that I witness around me inspire my work — be it child labour or farmers’ suicides in Odisha. Once a social cause catches my interest, I try to weave in our traditional elements. I believe every designer or artist should take inspiration from not just beautiful things around, but even the plight of helpless people. I am in love with what I do. And when you love your work, inspiration comes from within.
Life inspires me. I also take out time to look at the works of other contemporary artists of our time. I am very fond of American artist Bruce Nauman, who had a famous series of works — Dream Passage — inspired by one of his dreams. He now works primarily with sculpture and video but I really like his approach to work. It’s very original and refreshing. He amazingly mixes themes and styles. He works out of a love for art and design.
I believe this should be the approach of every designer. To set your imagination free, you need to free yourself first. Worrying too much about market trends can become a hurdle in the path of innovation. One can come up with new ideas only while working for inner satisfaction.
To seek this inner satisfaction, I have been engaged in participatory art projects with various communities while exploring ideas of exchange, accessibility and authorship. My installations and video works have been part of many prominent exhibitions in museums, artist-led spaces and alternative venues in India and abroad. And my sari was recently exhibited at the Art for Concern Auction at Taj Mahal Hotel.
Young volunteers lay bones, during One Million Bones, a visible petition for bold action towards an end to mass atrocities. One Million Bones is a large-scale social arts practice, combining education, hands-on art making, and public installations to raise awareness of ongoing genocides and mass atrocities in places like Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia and Burma.
Michelle Richardella of Chicago places crafted human bones on the lawn of the National Mall in Washington. One Million Bones is a project of The Art of Revolution, an organization dedicated to leveraging the power of art to inspire activism. The bones are made of clay, paper, glass, steel and other materials. Rochelle Campbell of Washington places human bones, crafted by students, artists and activists, in place on the lawn of the National Mall. The artistic installation was created on Saturday and will be on view through Monday.Artist Naomi Natale designed the large-scale installation and led students, artists and activists in creating the bones. For the past three years they have been collecting 1,000,000 handcrafted bones for the three-day installation event on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.3-year-old Isabella Campbell from New York City, carries crafted human bones. Artist Naomi Natale organized more than 100 installations nationwide, leading up to the Washington event. Organizers are focused on killings in Sudan, South Sudan, Congo, Myanmar and Somalia. Jess Perkins from Napier, New Zealand, places bones during One Million Bones. This installation is meant to honour those who died in genocides and those still fighting to survive. The supporters also had biodegradable bones made in their name for a donation of $5. The bones will be placed in their honor on the National Mall.Rochelle Campbell, from the District of Columbia, lays human-crafted bones. The One Million Bones project offered two ways to create a bone. Participants registered to create bones as part of the Students Rebuild challenge. Every bone created through this initiative generated $1, up to $500,000, towards CARE’s work on the ground in Somalia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.The National Mall installation will feature international speakers and performers, educational workshops, a candlelight vigil, and the opportunity to act against atrocities during an advocacy day on Capitol Hill led by our partners at the Enough Project. The candlelight vigil is planned for Sunday evening.
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