Jallianwala Bagh

This interactive installation explores historical narrative, remediates the story through smell, and portrays the trauma felt by people. We coded smells and experimented with scent-making with local traditional attarwalas (perfumer) in Hyderabad and mapped the artefacts as per happy to tragic phases.

Jallianwala Bagh, a massacre, a tragic event that shook every human and particularly the people under the Raj. Its aftermath was that it led them to question their identity which fueled the national freedom struggle. This interactive installation explores this historical narrative and remediates the story through smell and portrays the trauma felt by people. It shows how people in power reduce others and strip them off the personhood. By retelling this narrative it draws a parallel and wonders about similar events in current times. It further lets the audience experience how design plays an important role today in creating strong narratives for change focusing on olfaction and sound in particular.

Brief:

Created awareness of our history, abuse of power and biases by re-mediating Jallianwala bagh in to a smell and sound narrative and installation.

Design Process:

● Background Research

● Interviews with relatives of survivors

● Site studies of Jallianwala Bagh

● Scent Association through qualitative research

● Interaction Design & Narrative Building

● Crafting and Manufacturing of artefacts

Key Insights & Value:

When humans undergo traumatic experiences it leads them to catharsis and often with this they forge a new identity.