A few weeks ago I bought my first art piece alone. It is a 1930s piece from India, depicting a deity wearing a flower garland around his neck. The flowers are of fabric, decorated with gold thread and in a vibrant color, indicating that they are significant.
This caught my attention and I therefore did some research on the matter. In India, the gods are decorated with garlands that are made from various flowers, such as jasmine, lotus, hibiscus, nerium, oleander and also leaves and grasses. The role of garlands in festivals is considered very important and is part of tradition. In weddings the couple wears them, in funerals the dead body wears one, and in general garlands are used to show respect to an individual or a statue. In certain temples such as “Tamil Nadu” temples special people made garlands daily for the particular deity the temple was built for. These garlands were sacred and made from plants that were grown in the nandavanam (flower garden) of the temple. The people who made them were supposed to follow specific rules such as “the flowers had to be picked in the early morning” and “no one was allowed to smell the flowers”. Each Hindu deity has a unique garland: Goddess Lalitha wears hibiscus garland, Lord Vishnu wears tulasi leaves garland, Lord Shiva wears Bilvga leaves garland, Lord Subrahmanya wears jasmine garland, Mahalakshmi wears red lotus, Saraswathi devi wears a white lotus garland. Durga Devi wears nerium oleander garland, Vinayaka wears garland made of Durva Grass.
Ofcourse, when thinking about garlands Hawaii comes to mind. Thus, I looked up Hawaiian garlands, which are called “Lei”. In Hawaii, these represent symbols of affection. Plants such as plumerias, orchids, tuberose and ferns are used to make lei, for hula dancers as well. Hawaiian lei are sacred and associated with gods and celebrations. They can be found on occasions such as birthdays, weddings, funerals, graduations etc.
Somehow, garlands and lei can be considered wearable flowers, so I began thinking about how we wear flowers nowadays. At first, jewelry came to mind and the 3D printing jewelry we had looked up in class. I also thought about how flowers are also found on fabrics, either as part of the texture or just as prints. I looked up such work and found an artist we had already mentioned in class, Eunsuk Hur. Eunsuk Hur has created a project called “Nomadic Wonderland”, in which he laser cut fabric, resulting in unique, biomorphic, modern looks. The shapes are inspired by and resemble plants/flowers.
This contrast between the wearable flowers of different times made me think of how these could be combined, i.e. how traditional associations with flowers can be represented in the present.
Initially, my idea consisted of 3d printing a garland. The result would be the creation of a modern flower garland, which could bring about thoughts and questions about what this means, since garlands and lei are sacred. What does it mean to have a traditional object made modern and carried out in a different manner than the ancient one?
I also thought that it could be interesting to use processing in some way, in order to create flowers. I experimented by making a flower, and also found an interactive sketch for flowers on the Internet. The codes are below:
My Flower:
size(400, 400);
background(0,191,255); smooth();
// set centre point
translate(width/3, height/3);
// draw 5 petals, rotating after each one
for (int i = 0; i < 140; i++) {
for (int x = 100; x > 0; x = x – 5){ if ( i%2 == 0) {
fill (255,255,0); }
else fill (255);
ellipse(x, -40+x, 50, 50); }
rotate(radians(3));
}
// centre circle
fill(255 ); // light yellow ellipse(0, 0, 50, 50);
rotate(radians(26)); fill (110,139,61);
rect (140, 0, 200, 10); ellipse (180,-20,20,50);
Flower from the Internet (click on the keyboard):
int getRandomColor() {
return color(random(120,255), random(255), random(255));
}
void drawFlower(float x, float y, float flowerSize) { strokeWeight(flowerSize); stroke(getRandomColor());
translate(x,y);
for (int i=0; i<10; i++) {
rotate (TWO_PI/10);
line(0,0,3*flowerSize,0); }
strokeWeight(0);
fill (getRandomColor());
ellipse(0,0, 1.5 * flowerSize ,1.5 * flowerSize);
}
void setup() {
size (600,600); background(0);
}
void draw() {
if (keyPressed == true) {
drawFlower(random(width), random(height), random(5,25)); }
}
Thinking further about this, I thought that maybe I could laser cut a few traditional flowers on fabrics (specific flowers used in India and in Hawaii, on the color of fabric that corresponds to their color), photograph these and insert them in a processing sketch (as PNGs), while making it an interactive sketch in some way.
I finally decided it might be an interesting idea to connect it to KinectA so as to make it possible to further interact with the Processing sketch in a way.
Sources:
http://www.eunsukhur.com/#/nomadic_wonderland/recent_pr oject:_about_normadic_wonderland/normadic_wonderland
http://www.hawaiiflowerlei.com/leitradition.aspx
http://www.hawaiihistory.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&C ategoryID=290
http://www.fragrantica.com/news/Flowers-in-Traditions-and- Ceremonies-in-India-4994.html
FINAL PROJECT:
Finally, the project was carried out in the following way:
The idea was for it to be an interactive one, so I created a Processing sketch in which shapes are drawn when keys on the keyboard are pressed. These shapes altogether take the shape of a garland (not attached at the end), as well as the “n” for my name “nitta” (in Greek, “ν”). Therefore, the garland shaped when keys are pressed also completes my name (view sketch). Also, I made the sketch change colours inspired by the colours of the flowers used for traditional garlands. According to the sequence in which each person presses the keys, a different garland is created as different shapes are drawn.
Here is the code:
ArrayList<Particle> particles;
PImage img;
import org.philhosoft.p8g.svg.P8gGraphicsSVG;
//Define an SVG object
P8gGraphicsSVG svg;
void setup() {
img = loadImage(“itta.jpg”);
size(600, 400);
particles = new ArrayList();
smooth();
svg = (P8gGraphicsSVG) createGraphics(width, height, P8gGraphicsSVG.SVG, “FinalOne.svg”);
beginRecord(svg);
println(“Use letter S to save image and letter B to quit the sketch”);
}
void draw() {
background(255);
img.resize(200,100);
image(img,280,240);
if ( keyPressed == true ) {
if (particles.size() == 0 ||
(particles.size() >= 0 &&
particles.get(particles.size() – 1)._key != key)) {
Particle p = new Particle(key);
for (int i = 0; i < particles.size() – 1; i++) {
p.moveup();
p.moveside();
}
particles.add(p);
}
}
for (int i = 0; i < particles.size() – 1; i++) {
Particle p = particles.get(i);
p.display();
}
}
class Particle{
//variables
float left_right = 20;
float hgt = 100;
boolean up = false;
char _key;
Particle(char _key) {
left_right = moveside();
hgt = moveup();
this._key = _key;
}
void display(){
colour();
if (this._key == ‘a’) {
for (int i=0; i < 75; i = i + 15) {
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 15, 15);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘b’) {
for (int i=5; i < 65; i = i + 15){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 15, 15);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘c’) {
for (int i=20; i < 75; i = i + 20){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 30, 30);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘d’) {
for (int i=25; i < 75; i = i + 30){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 45, 45);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘e’) {
for (int i=45; i < 90; i = i + 90){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 50, 50);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘f’) {
for (int i=0; i < 90; i = i + 89){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 30, 30);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘g’) {
for (int i=29; i < 60; i = i + 30){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 45, 45);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘h’) {
for (int i=45; i < 46; i = i + 30){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 8, 8);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘i’) {
for (float i=10; i < 65; i = i + 1){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 2, 2);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘j’) {
for (float i=64; i < 65; i = i + 1){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 50, 10);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘k’) {
for (float i=0; i < 1; i = i + 1){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 50, 10);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘l’) {
for (float i=35; i < 36; i = i + 1){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 50, 10);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘m’) {
for (float i=25; i < 60; i = i + 34){
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt, 50, 10);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘n’) {
for (float i=20; i <75; i = i + 3){
rect(i+left_right, hgt, 10, 10);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘o’) {
for (float i=20; i <75; i = i + 15){
rect(i+left_right, hgt, 10, 10);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘p’) {
for (float i=70; i <75; i = i + 10){
rect(i+left_right, hgt, 30, 10);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘q’) {
for (float i=5; i <10; i = i + 10){
rect(i+left_right, hgt, 30, 10);
}
}
else if (this._key == ‘r’) {
for (float i=25; i <66; i = i + 8){
ellipse(i+left_right+10, hgt, 15, 5);
ellipse(i+left_right-10, hgt, 15, 10);
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt+7, 10, 5);
ellipse(i+left_right, hgt-7, 10, 5);
}
}
}
float moveup(){
if (up == true && hgt > 100){
hgt = hgt – 10;
}
else if ( hgt < 350 ) {
hgt = hgt + 10 ;
}
else {
up = true;
}
return hgt;
}
float moveside(){
left_right = left_right + 200/30;
return left_right;
}
}
void colour() {
if (key == ‘t’) {
fill(0);
}
else if (key == ‘u’) {
fill(200,0,40);
}
else if (key == ‘v’) {
fill(100,100,100);
}
else if (key == ‘w’) {
fill(120,19,11);
}
else if (key == ‘x’) {
fill(54,78,199);
}
else if (key == ‘y’) {
fill(30,180,30);
}
else if (key == ‘z’) {
fill(0,255,255);
}
}
void keyPressed()
{
if (key == ‘s’)
{
svg.endRecord();
println(“Saved.”);
}
else if (key == ‘b’)
{
svg.clear();
exit();
}
}
The next step involves exporting this as an SVG (by pressing the “s” key), and then importing it to Illustrator. In Illustrator, the shapes are connected using Pathfinder, and made into larger shapes.
SVG file in Illustrator
A few SVG files combined in Illustrator, in the process of creating a laser cutter file.
An appropriately converted file to be used for laser cutting. The shapes have been ungrouped and the Pathfinder tool was used to arrive at these new shapes.
After the file has been converted appropriately for the laser cutter, the process begins. I tried various fabrics of different textures and colours.
However, I decided to use a black, thick fabric as my project is a contemporary approach to garlands, a project inspired by the original ones but resulting in its own character. Not having colours and making computer designed shapes comes in contrast with the colourful and different shaped flowers of traditional garlands.
Fabric in the laser cutter
IMG_8197 (video of laser cutting process)
Fabric after the shapes were cut out. These could be interesting stencils!
Cut out shapes!
Using string, they are connected to each other in a way that resembles how actual flower garlands are. These are modern day garlands, not colourful like the traditional ones, not with flowers but made of black fabric. However, the string I chose brings to mind plants and strings made of these. There is therefore a subtle connection made between my contemporary garland and the original ones.
Therefore my project is a modern day approach to garlands.
RESULT
PRESENTATION
