Living The Dream

Alan Cesarano, European filmaker, and I review plans we found in Nek Chand's office

Alan and I take a break for the camera

It is hard to believe we only have four more days to finish our work here at the garden. Everyone is working hard on their mosaics or on their individual projects. For me, I have been asked to help photograph and archive the items in Nek Chand's office so that there is an official record of them digitally. 

Secretly, I think the mosaic team is happy, since my mosaic work was not really up to snuff against the pros we have finishing the columns.

One side of Nek Chand's office!

Nek Chand's office is piled thigh-high with newspaper clippings, gifts of artwork, dusty awards, presentation photographs and more. So there is a great need to document them before they disappear in an avalanche of piles. 

Lokrum, Nek Chand's gatekeeper, unties bundles of
newspaper clippings for us to review

For me it is a dream come true. Ever since I learned of visionary folk art environments like this one, I have wanted to participate in some way to help preserve them for future generations. Unfortunately, even in good economic times, preservation is expensive and often left to private foundations or individuals who happen to stumble across this small genre of outsiders to the art world who are often ridiculed by the less informed.

Even here in Chandigarh, and throughout India, this site is viewed more as a Sunday stroll through the park with the family than it is a serious public art installation. Visitors constantly mark or scrape their names into the rocks and climb over the sculptures for better photo opportunities.

So we began in earnest by going through hundreds of clippings to determine which ones are worth digitally preserving. After that, we began taking Nek Chand's office section by section to photograph every award, document, clipping, gift, photograph or painting, most which have not seen the light of day for years.

(L-R) Lokrum re-ties bundles after we review them.

Of course the task is not made easier because of the language barrier and lack of resources. We have constructed a make-shift studio for shooting, and we have to move it every couple of hours with the sun! We also had to convince our helpers not to use newsprint (which is extremely acidic) as a wrapper for the items we photograph. Finally, when we compared it to the caustic cement used for the mosaics, they got the message.

Thankfully, our helpers from Nek Chand are wonderfully cooperative and remind us how revered and respected he is within the broader community. For me, it is a dream come true, and a major item on my bucket list crossed off with joy, satisfaction and more meaning than I ever thought possible. Tomorrow, I will try and post pictures of the mosaic team and their column work and our afternoon henna party with the henna hoodlums who tried to take us for a ride!