In July 2020, The Heritage Lab collaborated with DAG Museums to introduce the GIF IT UP Challenge in India (with support from Europeana) with an aim to bring Indian Art into mainstream conversation. The idea was simple: DAG Museums released thirteen artworks from their collection under a CC BY-SA license for audiences to remix as GIFs.
That is how GIF IT UP India came into being.
The collection of thirteen open access images of Indian art that were up for remix as GIFs.
The concept of GIF isn't new as they have been a rage for years now.
However, the whole idea of creating a GIF based on Indian Art drew my attention.
So I dived right in and engaged with the art on a deeper level as a result of it.
This was my first attempt to create any kind of GIF.
I ended up making three GIFs, since we could submit the said number of the same.
Untitled
Oleograph on paper, c. mid- 20th century
13.5 x 9.5 in.
Printed at Ravi Varma Press, Malavli
Why should boys have all the fun? ;)
A quirky take on the group photograph of the five women.
Each engaged in their own fun activity.
A quirky take on the group photograph of the five women.
Each engaged in their own fun activity.
The Appeal by Chittaprosad
Lino print, 11.0 x 7.0 in.
The Appeal - Revisited
The contemporary age that we're living in has it's own set of challenges.
The contemporary age that we're living in has it's own set of challenges.
Environmental impact (dove fleeing because of this), consumerism culture, adulterated food, making education a business and what not. So these aspects were zoomed out initially and 'peace' words blurred in the background (due to a shift from peace related activities).
What is required is that we rule out (blur) these factors and reduce their impact (intermediate frames). In the end, all that matters is we unify, raise our voices to bring back and maintain peace in the world (depicted in the last frame).
Another way to look at it would be CHAOS of thoughts (blurred, zoomed out) we have and the need for peace of mind, now and in the future.
Untitled (Cat)
Jamini Roy
Tempera on boxboard, c. 1920s-50s
11.2 x 16.0 in.
Musings of a Cat
A cat engrossed in its own world does not want to be bothered.
If you do, the consequences are for you to face. :P
The hand used here is from the Kalighat painting of man and woman embracing each other.
This results of this event came out as a total surprise.
I won the honorable mention in the 'First time GIF maker' category.
Received a beautiful book by DAG as a recognition for this achievement.
It was based on one of their own exhibition on Indian Artists.
All the above GIFs are free to download and share using the below links.
They are licensed under a CC by SA 4.0 license - which means you must attribute the GIFs. Also, if you decide to add your own creativity to them, you must share your work with the same license!
A comprehensive recap of the entire event can be found here.
Enjoy discovering a total of 103 GIFs that were created in during this event on the campaign page.
