Weed in Ahmedabad

This stop-motion animation of the WEEDS series was among the 3 I painted while on tour in India as visual band member of Rupa & the April Fishes (the band who also made the music of my WEEDS video.) It was 2012, the Occupy Everywhere tour. 

Not far from Gandhi's ashram, we were told the Ramapir Thekra area is the "largest slum in Gujarat". In the middle of it there is a community center, which our friend Robin Sukhadia introduced us to.

The place itself was an illustration of perseverance, of bursts of beauty breaking through the harshest conditions. I drew this little weed just before sundown, based on one I found nearby, as an emblem of that resilience.

Rupa with the clicker, taking the photos for the animation.
photo Robin Sukhadia

Rupa helped clicking the photos for the animation, and then she and the April Fishes played a concert at the same location. Local children gathered to watch the process, and later danced wildly to the band's tunes, kicking up a literal dust storm.