Oota -&- Aata (Food & Play)

An evening of traditional Indian board games and snacks. This event was hosted at a former school that is more than a 100 years old. The brief was to take over the space and invoke a feeling of comfort that encouraged people (friends and strangers alike) to interact and share a moment of play and nostalgia.

Board games have a reputation of being played in various nooks of childhood homes. They’re usually associated with being shoulder to shoulder with a friend or sibling and huddled around a table, or sprawled on a bed with at least one foot dangling off an edge. I took those moments and recreated “rooms” from homes across India with items that people would have likely seen growing up. I raided my own childhood home and homes of friends and family to source items that are close to the heart but out of sight, so naturally, out of mind.