ORIENTATION MODULE

HAMZANAMA

The Humzanama was one of the earliest important commissions by the third Mughal emperor Akbar. Humzanama or Dastan-e-Amir narrates a legendary exploit of Amir Humza, n uncle of Muhammad. Their stories are mostly a series of threatening events and violent acts. It tells the story of adventures of Amir Humza, the uncle of Prophet Muhammad.

Now, having are drawings, we went to the next step of creating spaces. We decided to create a space where there are different barriers in various planes which gives a sense of “Hide and Seek”. We made small scale models, trying different methods to create a Hide and Seek space. Finally, we came to a model to a make installation in the school premises. The plan was to make 10 Kites of 8 ft. And arrange them in different planes. The reason behind selecting kites was the delicacy the kites have relating to the passage and the minimal materials required to create them. To make the kites we found bamboos, cut out many slim bamboos of 8 ft. ; used thread and newspapers. First we created frames of the kites by bamboos and thread and then covered it with newspaper.

The main challenge was to arrange these heavy and huge kites in different planes. We resolved the problem by fixing bamboos, on the ground, of different heights all around the site and resting the kites on them. We then secured kites by tying all the sides to trees through threads.

In this whole process, we learnt: different methods of drawings, where can we find bamboos and methods and tools to cut it, making a kite, and creating a space on this big scale which none of us had done before. It also gave us an opportunity to understand our classmates more, learned working in groups.