MAPPING OF VULNERABILITIES EXPOSED BY THE FLOOD
Wayanad district in Kerala was one among the many districts that was affected in Kerala floods 2018. Eighteen percent of the population in Wayanad are the tribal communities namely the Paniyas, Kurichiyas, Adiyas, Kattunaikans, Kadars, Urali Kurumas. The floods exposed the vulnerabilities of the communities in Wayanad. The community acted as a cohesive unit during the flood and helped each other through the tragic event. The question still remained how can we change the way we live and be better prepared the next time something of this scale occurs.
We found that the school was representative of an inclusive community through the ethnographic, cultural, biological diversities that it comprised of. In a disaster situation community resilience matters. It is important that people feel a sense that they belong in order to be able to face the psychological trauma. We came up with three main design goals that were to be catered to through our intervention.
The three goals of the intervention were to -
1-create aspiration
2-reinforce identity and
3-create community safety nets.
We started by understanding the internal narratives of the Paniya and Kuruchiya community. We created a story about inclusive communities using cultural narratives that the children could relate to. The story gave them the opportunity to imagine and aspire about the future of their community. The storyboard was translated on to a tapestry which we wanted to promote as a livelihood option and a teaching method.
THE TAPESTRY
The story board is in the form of a tapestry with panels that are created in the form of the rays of the sun. The sun is representative of hope and aspiration. The story is as follows
1- Shows a Paniya community, scene depicting the people working on the fields.
2- Shows the rains and flooding of the town.
3- Shows the paniyas performing their traditional Vattakalli dance that involves movements like the elephants to invite them to help them during the flood. The idea of coexisting with nature is conveyed through this panel.
4 & 5 - The elephants help the community move theor houses to a safer location on top of the mountains.
6- They come across the Kuruchiya community on the way to a safer spot and discover that they too have been affected by the floods.
7- They work together to help save the Kuruchiya houses.
8- They move to a safer spot and set up their houses again.
9- The last panel is left free for them to design their future.
The considerations for the tapestry - simple forms bright colours Kantha stitches which is most basic. Modular shapes that can be reused in thel ast panel to design a future. easy to replicate.
CREATING A VISUAL STYLE OF EXPRESSION THROUGH PARTICIPATORY DESIGN
The idea was to conduct a participatory design activity at the school, the outcome of which would be a visual style of expression that would be designed by the students of the school as a group and would be printed on their notebooks and stationary A system was proposed around the same to promote it as a livelihood option.
Activity Conducted
The students were asked to create their own playground with all the elements that they would like to include in the playground. They were given the freedom to use any medium of expression like clay paints rangoli etc. The drawings of the activity were translated into a visual style painted on various stationary items used in school.
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