Quick Update!
Posted by Moira Fratantuono on Thursday, April 25, 2013
Hello all, my apologies for being so long in between posts, and then posting only photos with no substance a few days ago (which was a mistake). I've been having a very hard time with the internet connection in my hotel, and thus am way behind. For now, I'll just post some quick highlights, and hopefully I can do more thorough writing in the near future. I have much to say about traveling as a woman, further insights into the changes happening here, etc. But for now, I leave you with this:
I have been meeting with various community-based arts organizations, and I am inspired by their work, their drive, and the their commitment to make change! I am also struck by the commonalities between these organizations, in terms of mission and as well as approach to participant engagement, pedagogy, and that of artists and organizations who I know in Baltimore. I am hoping to bridge these two worlds through some collaborative projects in the future, although I don't have a final 'vision' at the moment. I may have one final project, either another mural or teaching some photo classes as part of a larger digital storytelling project, during the last week or so of my visit here.
We completed our mural at Jan Madhyan - you can see the finished project in the 'murals' section of my website. Today I teach my final painting class at Manzil, and then we're headed to McDonalds for lunch : ).
I visited Agra yesterday, and it was AMAZING!! I was completely unprepared for the rush of emotions I would feel as I first say the Taj Mahal in its absolute perfection, and I actually started crying. It was one of those moments that you dream about, wonder if you might somehow end up seeing it in person, and for me, was a beautiful reminder of how incredibly blessed/fortunate/lucky I am to be here in this place, at this time.
Tomorrow, I head to Jaipur for a few days before meeting up with Suraj in Rishikesh/Haridwar area. Photos seem to make my blog load much more slowly than text, so I'm only adding a couple, but will try to put some on facebook in the near future.