Words of Wanderers, 2019
Digital, 24’
This project is looking into poetry as self-expression of identities amongst the younger generation of poets living in the Northeast Indian capitals of Shillong in Meghalaya, Aizawl in Mizoram and Imphal in Manipur. It revolves around the creative process of poetry writing in a region where the process of identity creation for the poets often includes a mix of balancing their “Indianness”, their tribal affiliation, being a Christian minority and a long history of an influx of music and literature from Europe and the US. Poetry as self-expression is both individualistic, subjective, personal and social, and therefore poems in many ways demonstrates the convergence of the political and the personal. For this project they are an entrance into exploring narratives of sense of belonging and how the poets experience witnessing the change happening in the region, especially very rapidly in the cities. The project is a series of performances and poetic short films created out of the meeting between the filmmaker and seven poets from three different states.