FICA was pleased to announce a workshop exploring visual narratives identified within and across phases in the archive of cartoons by Inder Bhan Madan. Inviting applications from practitioners interested and/or engaging in some form with the medium of cartoons and graphic narratives, the session led by Shambhavi Gairola invited participants to explore ways in which these cartoons can be read, interpreted and intervened with, creating different approaches to entering and engaging with such an archive.
Saturday, 16 June, 2022 2 - 6 PM
at the FICA Reading Room
The workshop was structured as an interactive session with the cartoons, and participants were invited to engage with the different narrative forms that can be traced across time periods in the archive. This included thinking about how visual narratives take shape through the composition of a cartoon, and how certain choices and thought processes initiated by the artist find translation within the frame. This also provided participants with an opportunity to use the archival material as a launchpad for experimenting with other forms of narratives.
We extended an invitation to practitioners working with forms of narratives as part of their art practice to come read, reflect and make, delving into the possibilities of these cartoons and their elements. The cartoons spotlight the ordinary man’s encounters with the everyday and the eccentric, involving themes such as society, politics, war, corruption, institutions, landscapes and relationships—all strikingly relevant to our present moment.
The workshop also included a walkthrough of the digital and physical archive of cartoons as a way of shedding light on how categories and differentiations were developed during the archival process. It brought out some exciting interventions, observations and discussions around the cartoons, made even more interesting by each person's individual practice and perspective.
We are very grateful for all the thought-provoking outcomes produced- we look forward to incorporating them further into what the cartoons continue to generate!
The workshop was organised in conjunction with The Wry Eye, a display showcasing an archive of cartoons by Inder Bhan Madan, which is currently open at Project_Space at the FICA Reading Room. Mr Madan was an engineer who worked for the Post and Telegraph Department. His cartoons, determinedly drawn over five decades as a personal, diaristic lens into the world around him, brings together a very unique perspective into the mid-20th century world. Numbering over 17000, the cartoons are a record of his strikingly humorous and critical observations from different time periods in his life.
FICA’s engagement with this archive of cartoons began in 2017, and this exhibition marked an important moment in this journey. Having spent much of this time scanning and systematizing the material, we were keen to see what can be orchestrated with the archive, through modes of dialoguing with people interested in working with cartoons, comics and similar graphic narratives.
The workshop was led by Shambhavi Gairola, curator and designer of The Wry Eye exhibition currently on display at the FICA Reading Room. She has spent the past year working with the Inder Bhan Madan archive at FICA. Shambhavi has over six years of experience in the field of visual arts, arts administration and exhibition-making. Her art-making practice spans a variety of media and genres, incorporating graphic design, immediate encounters with her surroundings as well as more nuanced studies of perception and the gaze. She hopes to be able to expand her practice to accommodate experiments with documentary filmmaking, archival research, curating and anthropology. She is currently based in New Delhi.
