Bishakh K. Som

Bishakh Som's work has previously appeared in Hi-horse, (a four-person comics anthology of which he is a co-editor and contributing artist), Legal Action Comics vol. 2, and Blurred Vision. His Xeric-winning collection Angel is out now and is available at www.hi-horse.com. He lives in lovely Brooklyn, NY.

Opolis Proposal

February 28, 2006

This proposal is divided into two parts: a) the space of domestic trauma, and b) the scene of the assassination.

a) the space of domestic trauma

Ideally I would take over a sliver of someone else's block. This sliver would only have to be maybe 9" x 2'6" in plan. On this sliver I would construct a very conventional 3 or 4-story townhouse, complete with all the architectural elements that signify convention: lintels, pediments, brick, etc. Each window would look into a three-dimension diorama of a domestic scene in the life of the protagonist, Natasha, aged 8. The dioramas would be shallow in depth, with forced perspective - some elements (furniture, people) would be three-dimensional or in relief, and other elements (wall treatments) would be drawn onto the sides of the diorama walls. The effect would be to emulate a dollhouse, but one with off-kilter interiors. Each window would depict a moment in the life of young Natasha, interacting with her parents, her tutor, her older brother, in which the horror of domestic family life is revealed. The idea is to build a prelude to the second part of the proposal:

b) the scene of the assassination

In which Natasha takes her revenge on authority figures by choreographing their ritual execution in a public space. Here there would be only one giant three-dimensional diorama, built into the interior of a theatre, taking up nearly a whole block. (If someone wanted to trade a sliver of their block for a sliver of mine, that would be ideal). The viewer would look into a peephole and witness the assassination of a public figure (a president?) by Natasha, aged 35, in the space of the theatre, during a performance. The trajectory of the (bomb, bullet, knife) will be traced across the space of the interior of the theatre, registering the effect across space of a single action. If I am feeling very ambitious, I will attempt to represent this moment in a variety of different ways: maybe a video camera on the inside of the theatre trained on Natasha in close-up, one on the target, with screens on the exterior of the theatre. Maybe the exterior of the building will somehow build on the effect of the assassination - billboards, news flashes, graffiti.

note: the effect of having part a) located physically on another block from part b) is to register the effects of trauma within a building, or block, but to map it across the city.