Doorways and Alternatives

Generated Futures and Present Fictions

Fahmeeda Osman

BArch Hons 2021

Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Claudia Morgado
Unit Tutor: Ruby Mungoshi
Unit Assistant: Azraa Gabru

UNIT 13^︎︎︎
Second Nature | Shared Futures

The year’s work focuses on alternative viewpoints comprising heterogeneous cultural identities, heritage preservation and co-creative craftsmanship, to address the emotional, cultural, and practical needs of communities under threat of erasure or disappearance. Following this was my study of material culture. To a large extent, our pronouncements are still products of polarities or dichotomies, e.g., the global north, the global south, east and west, black and white. The recurring theme of questioning and disrupting global asymmetries of power in my work led me to Homi Bhaba’s post-colonial concept of a Third Space, primarily how it may manifest in a spatial, architectural manner.

By way of tangible cultural artifacts, I wanted to make visible Bhaba’s argument that ideas and influences do not have fixed boundaries. The focus was on exploring the third space theory through cultural craft making techniques and applying it to the border condition of Kashmir.

Since artisanal works are open to interpretation, tell more than one story and encourage us to look at the world from another angle, engaging the contested space through a broader lens, the aim was to dismantle the hierarchy and transform personal perspectives, which speaks to Bhabha’s (1994) idea of “emerging other than ourselves” or reflecting and learning about alternative perceptions.

“Each weaving is a liminal space which gives rise to something different, something new and unrecognisable, a new area of negotiation of meaning and representation.” In this “in-between” space, cultural identities and personal political standing are negotiated, and users are constantly in a state of becoming.

Keywords:
Hybridity, Heritage Preservation, Co-creative craftsmanship, Narratives, Entanglement, Alternative Perceptions

---

---

︎︎︎ Previous Student