By Parismita Singh
-Shravani Hongadu
In this conversation, Parismita talks about the wayward line as a subject of emphasis in a drawing and how it mends itself to convey the aim of the drawing. The discussion explores drawing as a practice influenced by political contexts and historical events while examining the ethical and aesthetic considerations involved. The talk focused on her work in non-fiction graphic reportage, community art initiatives, sketchbook documentation, and collaborative art practices.
Parismita Singh is a writer, artist, and educator based in Assam. Her published works include the graphic novels The Hotel at the End of the World and Mara and the Clay Cows and a short story collection titled Peace Has Come. She was involved in conceptualizing the Pao Anthology of Comics and has edited Centrepiece: New Writing and Art from Northeast India. Additionally, she has contributed an illustrated column to the online magazine Voice of Fashion and produced the NRC Sketchbook, a graphic reportage series for HuffPost India. Singh also participates in a grassroots community education initiative with the Pratham Education Foundation.
Through the presentation, she talks about various of her and the stories behind them, some of which include:
-Parismita describes a war tank she saw in Kohima, in the middle of her general stroll she was taking on a sunday. For a vivid reason, the tank caught her eye as it was lying in the middle of nowhere. She made sketches of this particular tank and spent some time with it having no intention of their use. The sketches lay in her book for a long time until they somehow found a way into her first book - ‘Hotel at the end of the world’.
While setting the narratives, she remembered the tank and went back to those drawings. To her surprise, those sketches inspired the story to take form.
Through this story, she spoke about the uncertainty of notebook sketches' purpose, but somehow, they find purpose later. Sketches store the memories of the moment and act as a gateway to living those experiences again. She refers to her travel diaries and how every drawing in them takes her back to those exact moments. Drawing in the form of ‘sketches’ also becomes like a visual documentation of life itself.
The sketchbook accompanies you everywhere and is the first-hand receiver of your life experiences after you. It almost becomes a guide to your life.
Parismita’s works also include graphic reportage and visual essays (visual imagery of reporting what is happening in the world). Here, while working on the NRC sketchbook and HuffPost India, she claims that the wayward line led her to this journey of non-fiction reportage. She explores the drawing as a form of report meant to hold the information but also inform its viewers. It gives a sense of place and acts as a way of engaging with the subjects.
Post-presentation, further discussions looked at the various mediums and forms the wayward line takes and its journey from drawing as a way of sketching to drawing as a way of journaling. Thus, if drawing becomes a form of witness then what kind of responsibilities does the wayward line take?
Drawing also acts as a medium to put out opinions. Drawing also finds its purpose in highlighting the voices that may be otherwise lost in the dims of the market. It becomes a piece of value that has a certain weightage over the minds of its viewers.
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