ornament and crime

Ornament and crime

                             Nandita chanchani

Ornamentation is something, which has been there in our lives and surroundings since a long time now. The way the ornamentation has changed depicts how our culture has changed over the years. We don’t usually think about the origins of fabric we use though we use it everyday. We buy it for the ornamentation or the embellishment over it, and that’s how it is embedded in our brains. By ornamentation it does not have to be all jazzy but it can be a simple cloth and the ornamentation feature can be its cut and style also.

Today tattoos, paintings, symbols, graffiti’s etc. are considered immoral, unnecessary and very low priced. Vandalism today is one of the issues we are juggling with. Ornamentation is considered to be provoking for the economic society as well. The modern world today practices simplicity and the practitioner is considered to be opulent. Cultured and well-bred people appreciate simplicity and prefer living on those lines. The modern man believes that removal of ornament has taken things to the next level, thus giving it more strength and richness. The ornamental artists are considered to be impoverished. Lack of ornamentation is today considered to be a sign of intellectual power. I don’t completely agree with it as ornamentation is a personal choice. Every one has their individual meanings and interpretation associated with this word.

Culture denotes the way of thinking, the attire and the everyday life of the people residing in the country. Art is therefore a communication tool that expresses to the world what is important to the culture of that country and what sets it apart from the others. It gives them a sense of identity and a base to live by. Today we can say a lot about a person just by the way he is dressed. It’s not something new. We change trends on the runway with the upcoming seasons just so that people know what all variety is there which can be molded according to our choices. Its all about the choices we make.

The way we dress and embellish our bodies with jewelry or tattoos for instance, speaks a lot about individuality. It’s what we leave behind as a mark to be remembered.

After watching the video of yinka shonibare, when you come to think of it, it's quite interesting how different fabrics or motifs of fabrics that are specific to certain cultures and have moved from its origin to other parts of the world. He used his African art origins with the attires of Victorian era. It makes us think about where our fabric has come from, is it originally from India or has it travelled via the silk route, and many more such questions. Another important person in the art design change of the world was William Morris. He was the influential designer of the nineteenth century. He was also a scholar, environmental campaigner, writer and poet, political theorist, translator and publisher. He thought that there were enough art, paintings, poetry, etc. out there so he felt the need to revive art. He created a company in collaboration with a few others to create studios in which each person worked on images to create images using the older forgotten imagery or designs. He generally geometricized the images to give a design or motifs that could be repeated to create prints in the industries. His designs were complex but simple and saw how the living life could be interpreted and repeated in many different ways.