Maybe the war in Iraq has directed my thoughts toward Gandhi, a not altogether pleasant man or impressive-looking, but as the name "Mahatma" signified, a holy man, a "great soul." Gandhi led the second most populous nation to independence. One of the ways he did this was through the encouragement of homespun, spinning one's own yarn for fabric specifically, and the encouragement of village-based industries in general. Gandhi once walked to the sea to make his own salt, against the law in the British-ruled India. As he walked he gathered thousands of followers.
I, myself, set out on a journey to follow Gandhi, at least in a google search for the origins of the quote "it takes a lot of money to keep Gandhi in homespun." I couldn't find out who made the quote or when it was made. The remark would seem to reflect poorly on Gandhi and his efforts to create a new economic system. But perhaps a failing economy based on meaningful labor is preferrable to a successful economy built on maximizing profits and surplus value.
So why am I posting this under the category "project." Well I was at the Mattress Factory last night looking at James Turrell exhibits, and I saw a binder with an excerpt of Marcel Minnaert's The Nature of Light and Color in the Open Air, a book that was written in a style that is ripe for parody. When I woke this morning that's it, that's the third project, a number of parodies, or perhaps, profanities, dirty skeletons, using the publishing powers of the computer and the internet. But the profanities are only used as a palette for a larger narrative. I don't know let's just say a soul or a number of souls are at stake.
I still haven't gotten to why Gandhi is related to the subject, and perhaps I have not fleshed out what I mean by palette. Bear with me. All will be revealed.
Posted by mastr at March 23, 2003 11:53 AM