URBAN ARCHITECTURE
Mobilizing Guilt
Site Images
The site is in Mahavir Nagar, Kandivali (W),( I love Kandivali), Traffic Signal.
Site Plan
Mahavir Nagar signals a junction, I have been looking at for a long time not only from my window but also physically experiencing the space.
The area has 5 roads leading to various major sub-sections of Kandivali. The main road is a link road that leads to Charkop from one junction, to Chickoowadi from another, and to Mahavir Nagar from the third. There is Kandivali West metro station above Link Road which leads to Malad on one side and Dahisar on the other. The corners of the road have old low-rise apartment buildings to high-rise apartment buildings and informal settlements on one edge—a series of shops and footpaths along the edges.
Site Forces
Rhythms of the site:
Image production forms a scene/narrative through the organization of bodies.
These images mobilize emotions that reciprocate to the narratives represented by them.
In this particular case, the image mobilizes guilt.
As the rickshaw comes to a halt at the traffic light,
A beggar slowly makes his way toward the rickshaw.
In ragged clothes, he silently pleads,
With his scratched hands and hopes in his eyes,
For money, to buy some food.,
Beside him, his small child,
Gazing so intensely,
With those tiny eyes.
The restlessness in the air, it's almost unsettling,
Stirring a profound sense of pity within,
Whether to help, look away, or walk away.
A burden so heavy,
Mobilizes the inner guilt.
The image of the beggar is powerful enough to mobilize guilt within ourselves. The image is formed through the organization of the body in a particular way. When we see the beggar we see his/her body/physical presence. To engage in such a way that intensifies guilt, the space of intervention becomes the body. The guilt is thus made more prominent by reflecting one’s own body in that position. This heightened sense of guilt arises when we see our own body in that same condition as if we are looking into a mirror.
Site Engagement
Response : Mirror Armor
The mirror armor becomes a way of engaging with the body, experiencing through appearance, resulting in a reversal of role.
The mirrors in armor are composed of crooked, cracked mirrors. They also have black patches, black spots, scratches, oozing in different areas.
When one sees himself or herself in this, they find themselves with cracks in their skin, something oozing out on their skin, cuts in their skin, and tears in their clothes, thus it evokes a sense of guilt through their body as well as the beggar's body.
I am a Reflection of you You see me and you see you, in me.
You understand me,
Through your body.