Monde
Monde is a creative research project associated with the Hopes Centre for Autism and Developmental disabilities and Jyoti Speical School investigating the potential of visual language, particularly visual storytelling to communicate beyond words in a cultural and pedagogic journey going from North to the South of India. Uncovering three facets to visual language as a social, behavioural and pedagogic tool.
In practice, Monde manifested in the form of a workshop, booklet and mural painting created for the Hopes Centre for Autism in Dehradhun.
Chapter One, Le Theatre des Indes
Indian Railways, New Delhi, India
Primeval Chaos, the primeval emptiness of the universe before things came into being.
Traversing India on the Delhi Express is an embodied experience of Primeval Chaos.
Fumes of freshly boiled ginger chai evaporating from platform to cabin. Night turns to day as
our bright red locomotive is propelled from coves of concerte to verdant crevasses of dust,
trees, earthy delights and mysteries. It’s 6.15 am as train 22414 MAO RAJ departs from
Nizzamudin to Madgaon. The friction beneath of wheels on iron rail tracks pulses up the
carriage as passengers find their seat, clamor becomes murmur.
Stepping into the wagon, I am greeted by the moustached smile of Maghzed- the train officer
who will be my guide and accomplice aboard, the train has departed- Ready, Steady and go.
He shows me to a minute capsule pierced by a vast window . Inside, a table, a couch bed,
an opening, infinite and grand, looking unto Indian lands.
Cabine A2 is fertile ground for creation….
Trees, branches, fields, roads and wheels,
shards of sun bouncing and blinding
Reaching for the water Colour palette,
I dip and depict
Le Théâtre Des Indes.
Chapter Two,
The Collective Imaginaries
Arriving in Rishikesh, i was determined to teach. My travels on the Delhi Express had verified that beneath a simple drawing lies an intricate web of regulatory, sensorial, emotional and neurological reactions which transform the simple act of drawing is a therapeutic, meditative and medicinal process.
”
One of the most profound mysteries of autism has been the remarkable ability of most autistic people to excel at visual spatial skills while performing so poorly at verbal skills ,
Temple Grandin
Jyoti Special School
At Jyoti, I taught a group of Deaf and Mute children aged 9 to 12 years old
introducing pupils to images, signs and metaphors, to acquiring visual vocabulary and discover
modalities of visual storytelling.
Preparation
The workshop was prepared at the Dayan Mandir Ashram in the outskirts of
Rishikesh. There, a dear friend, Prakash Gi, allowed me to install a little creative studio on
the roof of his Ashram. Gazing at the Himalaya, I designed the Collective Imaginaries
Booklet, combining visual, physical and written storytelling .
To print it, I ventured in the center of Rishikesh and found a little corner shop who
happened to have a printer and a few book binding swirls. The owner, two of his friends and
I combined our efforts and dexterity to print, cut, press, assemble ten little booklets in one
afternoon.
Material
Symbol placard , A ‘Collective Imaginary’ Booklet, Paper , Colouring crayons
Guidelines
Sitting in a circle,
Embodied introduction, opening words on the environnent and storytelling.
1.. Step One, Observe the signs
2. Demonstrate the sign in sign language
3. Practice illustration by creating your own depiction of this sign
4. Illustrate different signs, between 2 and 5
5. Assemble a Visual Story combining the different sign in a sequence of events
6, Show your story visual story to your pears
The Atelier
The Collective Imaginaries
Booklet
On the day of my first class , I was greeted by the dance teacher whom graciously accompanied my time teaching at the Jyoti Special School, translating from english to sign language. In the morning, the entirety of the school gather outside for a yoga practice, the teachers and I joined too.
The school welcomes children with different needs, from autism to cerebral palsy. The director assigned me a group of children with hearing and speech impairements, highlighting their interest and receptivity to the arts.
The class begun on a sweet note distributing fresh pastries, colour crayons and notebooks I’d colllecte on morning commute. Also, the night before, i had prepared large size painting depictions of the Symbol book images which i tapped on the walls of the room so that soon we were surrounded by a moon, a butterfly, a bird, a sun, a star, a tree and a river. Simple images incorporating essential shapes and forms for illustration technique and composition, circles, lines, angles and curves. We sat on the floor in a circle as I proceeded onto explaining the activity of today’s class: ilustration and visual storytelling inspired by Nature.
The pupils ferventy picked up crayons and begun sketching, each choosing one symboll to depict, with care. In the circle, a variety of motor abilities revealed the importance of this simple practice: whilst some were capable of depicting a symbol with ease and precision, for others, a circular line was incredibly challenging.
As soon as one of the student encoutered any difficulty, another would happily offer a helping hand, a crayon and a kindness.
The creations were beautiful and inventive, from single images to colourful visual stories.
Caputring a range of motor, spatial and visual abilities, a dozen ways of thinking, illustrating and seeing.
I’ve selected three images from a story book created by one of the pupils who expressed difficutly with colour and form. The originality of his line and inventieness in transforming the shapes of the Symbols into unique images crystallizes the beauty of Neurodiverse Imagination.
A blue single lined picture poem, imperfect and pure.
Chapter Three, Hopes
Implementing visual, constructive, embodied methods and imagination in Pedagogy to support the cognitive, social and behavioral development of pupils with Special Needs,
The Atelier
This Atelier was created for children age 4-7 with Autism to Discover colors, shapes and symbols and images to ignite creative inspiration, Acquiring vocabulary and concepts of the natural World, Developing Motricity and physical coordination, Encouraging collaboration and dialogue to nurture compassion in the school environment
Oh My Planet !
P layground pedagogic booklet
The Oh My Planet Booklet is a month long « mini-curriculum » informed by Participatory Action Research and Constructive Learning Design containing phonic, creative, and movement activ ities which aspires to improve the communication, motricity and global awareness of pupils via Play and Art. With this booklet, students were encouraged to become agentive and articulate personal ideas concerning complex environmental and social issues (Bruner, 1996) and to act in their local environmental, at home and at school.
The Booklet contains:
A Visual Yoga and Movement Practice inspired by the Natural World,
A « planet alphabet » introducing pupils to vocabulary of Nature,
Poe’Sea phonics: visual phonics combining poetry and painting,
Sustainable Art Project: inspiration and guidance for creating using found, sustainable material ie. The Butterfly Fanfare inspired by the the process of Crysallisis
Monde,
The Mural
Monde is a piece of community art ‘Art that is based in a community setting, characterised by interaction or dialogue with the community’ Inspired by Semiotics.
The mural, created for World Environment Day, represents the Five elements, Ether, Air, Water, Fire in simply signs.
The five elements are named, represented symbolically and contextualized in a joyful visual story.
With Monde, Creative visualisation of the natural world is used to cultivate ‘an urban ecology’ of Collectivity, Inclusivity and radical joy.