Shadow Sculpture

EXHIBITION DESIGN ・ ART INSTALLATION・COMMUNICATION DESIGN

Overview

01

Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind & the Indian Freedom Struggle

JUH is an organisation of Islamic scholars established in 1919 for the struggle of independence through non-violent resistance. JUH scholars led the Khilafat Movement alongside Mahatma Gandhi's non-cooperation movement, its leaders issuing a fatwa that declared cooperation with the British to be haram. The two movements together reiterated Hindu-Muslim unity, and went on to become a formidable force against the British.

One Nation Theory

While the Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah demanded a separate Muslim state, the Jamiat opposed it with their One Nation theory. This was a theory of united nationalism and territorial nationhood, arguing that it is ‘not necessary that a nation, to be a nation, should share the same religion and culture’ since today ‘nations are made by homelands’. Jamiat leader Maulana Madani emphasized that any effort to divide Indians on the basis of religion, caste, culture, ethnicity and language was nothing more than a ploy by the foreign rulers to perpetuate their power. The Jamiat opposed the India-Pakistan partition in 1947, fighting fearlessly for an Undivided India.

Info

00 Studio

Client

Role

Art Installation Designer

Timeline

Feb - Mar 2019

Skills

Research Design
Focus Groups
Interviews
Project Management
Education Design
Communication Design
Video Production & Editing

Despite their efforts, the partition did happen. In 1947, as the euphoria of independence was accompanied by communal frenzy, Jamiat leaders restored the confidence of Indian Muslims and arranged for their safety and protection in the new nation. Today, the Jamiat continues its work in social welfare against communalism and terrorism.

JUH Museum

In 2019, a century after its inception, JUH leaders wished to commemorate the work of their predecessors by establishing a museum inside the JUH mosque complex at ITO, Delhi. This museum designed by Design Factory India consists of a permanent exhibit depicting JUHs’ contribution, its vision, mission and struggles through immersive experiences, installations, digital interactions, and informative panels.

My Role

As a communication design intern at Design Factory India, I was responsible for designing an art installation in a nook inside the museum, depicting JUH's ideology of secularism and united nationalism.

See the entire JUH museum designed by DFI.

Design

02

Shadow Art

Shadow art is a unique form of sculptural art where the 2D shadows cast by a 3D sculpture are essential for the artistic effect. “Shadow sculptures” are sculptures in which the principal material, a material that is also inseparable from the theoretical and plastic understanding of the work, is the projected shadow.

By using shadow, which alters the spatial and temporal conditions of a sculpture’s visibility and summons the iconography of memento mori, “shadow sculptures” help us reflect on the place that the viewer occupies before the sculpture, in its space, as well as in the world.

Materials

Religious objects used:

Christianity - Cross, Rosary, Crucifix, and Chalice
Islam - Tasbih, Janamaz, Rehl, and Topi
Hinduism - Thali, Jyot, Kalash, and Ghanta
Sikhism - Kada, Kangha, Khanda, and Kripan

Light source: a projector projecting a motion graphic of different religious objects coming together to form the shape of India.

3D drawing rendered on Photoshop.

Many Religions, One Nation

India is a country of many religions. This sculpture celebrates the spirit of a united India and JUH's secular ideology by using ceremonial and ritualistic objects from four major Indian religions. The objects are bonded together into a sculpture that is indecipherable on its own, but produces a shadow in the shape of India's map when the light hits it just right. This serves as a reminder that though the varied religious beliefs of the nation may be holding up its moral structure, it is only due to the lens of territorial nationhood that India gets its unique shape and form. It is this unity that makes up our homeland.

Kanika Kalra