Landan: Mapping Cross-Cultural Histories through Jugaad
Landan is an application which explores the deep cultural interconnections between Lahore and London, symbolically merging these two cities into a hybrid narrative. Derived from "landa," a term for second-hand goods in Pakistan (believed to originate from the influx of Western items), Landan reflects how global influences are reinterpreted locally.
This project focuses on the streets of Lahore named during the British Raj—roads that still bear the names of London streets today. Through photogrammetry, I’ve created 3D models of jugaad (innovative, resourceful objects) found on these historic Lahore streets, which were then virtually placed in corresponding locations across London.
By blending history with contemporary innovation, Landan examines the postcolonial exchange of goods, ideas, and identities. It raises questions about ownership, appropriation, and the creative reuse of resources, embodying the very essence of jugaad, a concept meaning to improvise or innovate with limited means. The project invites viewers to scan the QR codes to discover these unseen, hidden connections between two cities, tracing the shadows of imperial history in a modern global context.
A continuation of Landan, 'Neelam Ghar' explores the transformation and loss of meaning that occurs when objects, languages, and identities are removed from their original contexts. Inspired by Lord Macaulay’s 1835 Minute on Indian Education, which sought to degrade native languages in favor of English, this project delves into how South Asians, in striving for acceptance, became something neither fully their own nor fully Western—existing in a liminal, hybrid space.
In this work, 3D models from Landan are 3D-printed, highlighting how objects lose their essence when displaced. These artefacts become unfamiliar, neither fully belonging to their place of origin nor to their new setting—much like how translations of language often lose the richness and nuances of their original form. Through these fragmented, hybrid objects, the project reflects on the broader theme of cultural displacement and the impossibility of fully translating the essence of one culture into another.
