Self-Guided Lesson Plan for ‘நகரும் நிலங்கள்’ (2024) by Hanusha Somasundaram (b.1988)

What You will Do:

This self-directed lesson plan allows you to explore the intersection of art, land rights, and social justice at your own pace, providing opportunities for deep personal reflection and critical engagement with the topic.

Step 2: Take in the Installation

 

Spend some time really looking at the drawings.
Then think about these questions:

• What do you notice first?

• What do you notice after a minute?

TIP: Focus first on what is visible (shapes, colours, textures, objects). Resist the urge to interpret right away. Instead, focus on listing as many things as you can see, in as much detail as possible.

• What materials/things does the artist use? Do you recognise any of them? Have you ever used them?

• How does the artist use the things you see? What does she do to them?

• You may have noticed the tiny drawings. How are the drawings displayed?

Now that you have a list in front of you, let us look even closer.

Step 3: Looking Closer

Spend some time looking closely at the drawings.
There are 200 of them! 

• Choose the five drawings that captured your attention the most. List them below, along with a short description of what stood out to you in each one.

• Why did you choose to describe the drawings the way you did?

• Think about why these specific artworks caught your attention. Was it the subject matter, the style, or the feelings they stirred?

Step 4: Making Meaning

• What thoughts and emotions did each of the five drawings evoke for you specifically? Note them down.

TIP: Do not worry about what you think the artist was trying to communicate. Focus on emotions that the drawings evoke for you.

• Did any stories or personal memories come to mind as you engaged with the content of these drawings?

Step 5: Tell a Story

Now that you have explored what each drawing
might mean to you, try bringing all of them
together.

• Write a quick short story based on these five drawings.

• You can:

Write a story about your own experiences and the connections you are making to the drawings

Imagine a fictional story behind the five drawings. You could consider questions like: Whose story is this? Where do they live? What is a day in their life like? What challenges might they be facing?

• Make it short! You should not take longer than 5–10 minutes.

Step 6: Exploring the Story Behind the Artwork

You may have already noticed that there are two shelves of drawings. While travelling through two tea estates in Central Sri Lanka, artist Hanusha Somasundaram noticed two very different roads.

These roads, though different in condition, reveal something in common: the ongoing precarity faced by Malaiyaha Tamil communities, who are descendants of indentured workers brought from South India over 200 years ago, who also continue to live and work in these tea estates. When Somasundaram spoke to some of them, she learned that they do not possess the necessary residential rights to advocate for what happens in their town.

Moved by what she saw, Somasundaram began documenting what she saw and heard along these roads. She made over 200 drawings, each one on a new or used tea bag, a material rich with meaning. She arranged the drawings in structures that resemble tea gift boxes, laid out in grids that mirror the architecture of the line rooms where many workers live. Through this careful and layered work, Somadundaram invites us to reflect on the everyday realities of those who continue to sustain the tea industry, and the histories and struggles that continue to shape their lives.

Now that you have some further information, how does knowing this real-life story affect your earlier interpretation of the artwork?

Step 7: Connect Your Story

Compare the story that you wrote based on the drawings,
with what you have just learned about the artwork.

Use the following questions to guide your final reflection:

• Are there similarities in perspective between your story and the documentary? What does that tell you?

• Does your story differ greatly from the realities in the artwork? Why do you think that is?

• How does realising these similarities or differences make you feel?

• In what ways does your own relationship to land differ from or resonate with those reflected in the artwork?

Step 8: How Stories Shape What We See

Think about this: If someone else had looked at
the same images that you did earlier,
might they have seen something completely different?

• What shaped your initial perception of the images? Was it your background, experiences, or education?

• How might someone with a different history interpret the same five drawings?

• How does land mean different things to different people? (A home, resource, struggle etc.)

• Land can mean many things. Why might these different meanings lead to conflicts?

Land is never neutral. When people hold conflicting meanings about land—be it ownership, history, or value—tensions can arise.

Step 9: Getting to the Root

Now, choose one of the following activities to dive deeper into these ideas:

A. Shift your perspective

Go back to your original story from Step 3.
Rewrite it from the viewpoint of someone
else, such as a farmer, a plantation worker,
a student, or a government official.

Notice how changing who tells the story
alters the meaning and significance of land.

B. Think out loud:

If in a group, compare your stories and
see how different perspectives shaped
the way you all saw the images and
the documentary.

C. Make your own art:

Create an artwork inspired by a land-related issue in your own community.

Choose materials that symbolically relate to the issue you are addressing.

Think about stories or situations from your community. How will your artwork communicate your community’s unique relationship to land?

Through this lesson, you have engaged deeply with how art can highlight critical social issues and evoke personal reflection. Take a moment to consider what you have learned, how it made you feel, and what new perspectives you will carry forward.