ABSTRACT
The children explore the leaves—one leaf is thorny, the other is broad, another one is round, and most of them are green. All three of these narratives share one commonality: local contexts, materials, and circumstances dictate actions and responses aimed at addressing emergent needs. In their making and crafting of objects, these individuals engage in organic processes that respond to the cultures, materials, place, and circumstantial needs of the time and context within which they are situated. The installation was made with the participation of ninety residents of Rajokri, an urban village near New Delhi. In the interview, Sanjeev Shankar discusses how jugaad—an Indian cultural construct broadly referring to innovative quick-fixes or solutions springing from necessity and available resources—informs his creative and artistic processes and his life philosophy. A reconceptualization of design that moves away from design as a standardized, prescribed notion of problem solving to a more humane, organic response attends to and prioritizes local, emergent, and human contexts.
