The Idea:

The Idea:
The idea for a collection performance came to me while
travelling India in 2005-06. I started picking up the ubiquitous
empty matchboxes on the streets and sidewalks of big cities
(such as Bombay) with the idea of documenting my travels in
such a way as to leave, at the end, a collection of matchboxes
instead of a scrapbook, journal or photographs. Initially I was
simply enthralled by the rough beauty and humourous images
often adorning the matchboxes, but upon further reflection,
I realized that the Indian Matchbox is a pure reflection of
Indian society, encapsulting all it's contrasts and contradictions.
Hand-made wooden matchboxes are still common in many areas,
existing alongside mass-produced models, just as bullock-carts
and cows share the road with SUVs on even the most modern of
the countries highways. This omnipresent paradox is one of the
things that makes India such a fascinating place in which to travel.
The Act:
The simple act of stooping to pick
up a discarded matchbox also had an interesting effect, sometimes
people would be amused by the foreigner picking up trash, others
found it distasteful, and some people would engage me as to why
I wanted the discarded matchbox, and would sometimes offer their
own for my collection. It soon became clear to me that the act of
collecting the matchboxes also had some significance,
and the idea to create a collection performance was born.
I quickly amassed a fairly large collection, as matchboxes can be
found virtually everywhere in India, in little villages, on trains, on
the side of the highway or on the steps of an isolated and ancient
temple on the top of a sacred mountain. I started sharing the
collection with fellow travellers and locals alike, and the reactions
were always the same: astonishment at the sheer variety and
beauty of the matchbox images, and how, when seen together
as a collection, they transformed the lowly matchbox into
something more, something somehow grandiose and poignant:
a symbol of the soul of India.