Email: September 4.2005

Kurt;
I want Bassa to be one of the ten first folders.  You have his bio, and I sent a picture of him.  I still need to write the project overview, but it will be as I've described it to you.  The pictures of worker housing at the four sites (one Bassa, one Madhura, and two Varuna) go along as a set of images to give a visual sense to the project Bassa and I will work on.

It's not about Bassa's worker images.  It's about the temporary living conditions of all workers at construction sites throughout Sri Lanka.  These are typically guys from rural villages, maybe a crew, they're hired to come into the big city to work, far from their families.  They're building high end houses, designed by talented architects, and they live in shacks, on-site. Shacks -- these are much worse conditions than most of the gecekondus that I've seen.  And none of the architects, not even these great humanistic architects who are such good friends of mine, not even they see anything wrong with the picture I just described.

After the new construction is far enough along, the temporary housing is torn down and the men occupy the new building, which is still under construction.  So the men build themselves hard benches and put a piece of cardboard on it, and that's where they sleep.  Or they just lay a piece of cardboard down on a concrete slab.  They string lines and wash clothes and hang them out to dry.  They temporarily occupy the house, not paying any attention to the intended use of the various spaces.  In some ways, it's their house before it's the "owner's" house.

The gallery and the collaboration are not separate things.  I think they need to be together because it's important for many people to understand that these are SHACKS, that's very important to understanding the need and opportunity.

Wes.



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_contributor: basnayake