Sunday, February 27, 2011

Dangerous Designs


Currently reading the tightest book ever, Dangerous Designs: Asian Women Fashion the Diaspora Economies. Parminder Bhachu talks about how resistance manifests itself in the form of fashion and through reclaiming your identity through the clothes you wear. In the 1980's and 90's, British-Asians fused western clothing styles with that of their homeland, creating a new representation of both cultures, while going against the mainstream. Bhachu goes on to discusses how with struggle comes creative improvisation. In the introduction she says,

"[British-Asian Fashion's] hybridizing aesthetics represent dynamics similar to many facets of black cultural production and have much in common with other forms produced by people on the margins who draw from a range of sources in highly politicized, hostile landscapes. Such cultural production constitutes a crucial form of resistance, often characterized by a negotiative aesthetic-which is all that you have when you are in the margins. When you do not have classificatory systems and vocabularies of command, your strength lies in your ability to improvise and to innovate. Music yields the most widely appreciated examples, perhaps, from jazz to hip-hop and, within the Asian diaspora with which I am concerned here, bhangra and its subsequent reworkings.

"Finally, my research would not have been possible without the help of my favorite people, my Punjabi women friends, the 'older and old' masis at the Sikh temples: these wonderful and brave 'honorary aunts' are the heroines of my tale..."




Monday, February 21, 2011

Gear for Sale



As seen in Mandeep Sethi's "Aisee Taisee" video, New Delhi State of Mind tee I designed now for sale at www.kalakari.bigcartel.com. Cop yours today!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkUARK9IAOY


New Delhi State of Mind







A while back, we organized a B-Boy jam at the African American Arts and Culture Complex called New Delhi State of Mind to help raise funds for TinyDrops India. Not only did we hand-print t-shirts to sell at the event, but New Delhi State of Mind hosted the first ever "Dhol over Breaks" where B-Boys battled over the sounds of the Dhol drum.

TinyDrops India



A while back, I designed the logo for TinyDrops India, an ill new youth center in India bringing hip-hop to slums of the motherland. Check it out:

"Tiny Drops is an up-and-coming hip hop community center with locations in Mumbai and Delhi offering an alternative creative, social and cultural outlet for underprivileged youth

through dance, music and film classes, along with tutoring and mentoring,

with a dream to engage young people … to help make their dreams come true!


Tiny Drops derives its name from the beginnings of rain in a monsoon nation –

drop by drop, the water accumulates, until it becomes a flood that can sweep up the whole community in its arms. In such a way, Tiny Drops aspires to encourage children

to manifest their individual potential – whether as a life-long source of personal

delight or in order to connect with a collective purpose and expression."


www.tinydrops.org


Blog Updates Coming Soon

(currently on slacker mode.)