Workshops & Lectures

At community-driven conversations during TypeLab Asia, Pooja gave a talk about India Street Lettering that emphasised that photographing street signs is only the first step in the making of this archive. She explained her work of annotating and geo-tagging the images she captures, and how that helps identify patterns and paradigms that inspire deeper engagement and research, which in turn form the bed rock of outreach activities like type walks and zines. Pooja also showcased physical pedagogical tools she is experimenting with, such as the manuscript-format zine pictured below, which offers an interactive way to engage with the archive in classroom environments.

For intermediate students of publication design at the Bangalore campus of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Pooja facilitated a workshop centred on the documentation of street lettering, and the possibilities of storytelling that offers.

Armed with a brief introduction about the typographic environment of the neighbourhood, students first went on an exploratory type walk around Ulsoor. Once back in the classroom, they were introduced to different approaches they could take to organise the audio and visual content, as well as stories they had gathered. Working in groups, they brainstormed ideas to share the most remarkable observations they had made, and finally made prototypes for zines that tell different typographic stories from the area.

As part of a series of talks by folks whose work appears in the fourth issue of Better Letters, Pooja deconstructed common idioms present in the design of various painted signs from around India focusing on the variety of typographic styles and the interplay between text and image. Along with sharing snippets from local sign-painting and lettering books, she spoke about the making of the first batch of India Street Lettering zines, which were featured in the Book Club section of the magazine.

Watch recordings from the event on BLAG.

In a free-wheeling talk set against the backdrop of striking images from this archive, Pooja shared her impetus for maintaining India Street Lettering for a decade and investing in outreach for this research. She shared the methods and perspectives that she employs to make meaning from her ever-growing collection of photographs, focusing on the collections she has built through annotations — signs on Chennai’s hardware stores, Udaipur’s food carts, Mumbai’s Art Deco apartment complexes and Haridwar’s ashrams, among others. Her focus was also on the many enquiries and dialogues that this project helps initiate, and she debuted her first set of zines at this public lecture.

Watch the talk on Youtube.