Roadside Reflections

Scenographer Sumant Jayakrishnan uses languages to showcase different people on the street

- Dhriti Gandhi Ranjan

Scenographer Sumant Jayakrishnan introduced his installation Chakraview to Indian audiences at the Serendipity Arts Festival that concluded recently in Delhi. Originally presented at the London Design Biennale 2016, the walk-in installation is a metaphor for the Indian street. Jayakrishnan has used handmade, painted sign ages as wall hangings to display fonts in 22 Indian languages, including Gujarati, Marathi, Tamil, Urdu, Hindi and Bengali.

“The design is all about the street. When you walk on the streets, you see signs and people,” says Jayakrishnan. “In this case, it is like walking along a mirror that gives you infinite reflections. So it is a long, endless space. It is my take on the people’s representation on the street.”