“ Scenography has expanded to the point that it can be 'built by a scenographer, a collective of artists, an architect or nature itself' or 'found by an actor, a dancer or a spectator”

(Lotker and Gough, 2013 cited in McKinney.J & Palmer.S,2017)

An Intro to my Journey

The text in this page will break down who I am as a Performance Designer. I will highlight the themes and aspects of Scenography that I find most interesting to engage with. throughout the rest of my portfolio.

Throwback to my past, I had grown up knowing I want a future closest to storytelling and creation.

Coming from India where films are the most familiar form of entertainment and experience available to the common man. I was nine, when I watched the Bollywood film 'I hate Luv Storys' where the characters of the film were set designers and that is the first time I even knew there was such a job. This excited me as I believed to have accidentally stumbled on my dream job.

My Background

I identified as a filmmaker upon graduation in 2021 from my B.SC Visual Communication at India; that focused mainly on Film and Media. I was still set with the idea of wanting to work in films as a 'Set Designer'. I went ahead and artistically assisted in the film and music video productions before coming to UK. Working in the India, it was funny in all humor how "The art department!" was a curse word specific to the Cine world; the least relevant department that can take all the blame anytime something happened, because the light directors or Cinematographers were far too precious. As much I loved the dynamic environment and the hard work that went into filmmaking, I didn't feel like I had creative freedom or say as an individual. I strongly felt the need to be educated in design. Inspired by the likes of Hayao Miyazaki, Tim Burton and Sanjay Leela Bhansali; all from completely different disciplines but having their own set narrative aesthetic I aspired to find my flair as a designer so I can establish myself as a professional that people set out to work with.

Current Outlook

Previously, I had strongly believed Design and Art to be key visual narrative. But after almost a year of my journey in experimentation and play, my thoughts have shifted from the former.

Now, to me Design is a Chapter of it's own, with expanding potential and possibilities. It can exist, Standalone, with Camera, Lights and Scripts being Secondary or even non-existent. I have shifted to identifying myself from filmmaker to Maker-designer, an experimenter and Storyteller. What struck me about Scenography is this very versatility and it's ability to work across disciplines.