Although my graduation is finished, and I now proudly carry a Bachelors degree, I am leaving this page as is, till a new exciting venture arrives for me. My graduation has been extremely special, and seeing it unfold will give you a clear picture of my final year.
For my graduation project, I decided to work on what was most familiar to me- my rich Parsi and Indian culture, a subject I’ve researched since my artistic journey began. My explorations took the form of countless videos filmed during my visit to India. I filmed the two rituals that became the focus of my project- Ses, and Diwali. Growing up in a multicultural household, my grandmother always encouraged me to take part in Indian festivals. My mother introduced me to the Parsi community, one that you can only be born into. Ses, a Parsi ritual of celebration, became the focus of my A Level coursework. Back then I documented the community through our food and religion. This time I wanted to focus solely on the ritual, which is practised only within the community. I used this aspect of privacy to create a cookbook, using the food items that are part of the ses, and finding recipes all over India that incorporated these ingredients in my cooking.
'Reet Rivaj' Multimedia design
During my trip to India I also took videos of my mother documenting her extensive sari collection. Sari is a 5 metre long strip cloth draped around the body worn by women, in India. It is the most commonly worn clothing. Below is a rough sketch of what I expect the finished installation to look like. As the title of this page suggests, it is a project in progress, and I will be updating this page regularly with developments.
'Reet Rivaj' Multimedia design
My passion for book design has grown over the last few years and I loved using it as a medium for my explorations. My cookbook (still in progress) is a multilayered illustrated and pictorial book. I referred back to the different kinds of papers I used in various other books and chose vellum as the perfect carrier for concealing the ritual of ses.
'Reet Rivaj' Multimedia design
'Reet Rivaj' Multimedia design
'Reet Rivaj' Multimedia design