Bookwallah

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: The Bookwallah is a project in the form of a roving international library. Five Indian and Australian writers travelled by train to various literary festivals across India in search of stories and connections. They carried with them custom-made suitcases that opened and transformed into bookcases, filled with hundreds of new Australian books. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The portable, pop-up library and the concept of 'wallah' as an itinerant provider of a specific service were conceived by Varadarajan. Together with Georgia Hutchinson, the suitcases - which opened up into bookcases - were designed as part library, part art installation where visitors could browse, sit and read. The cases were constructed using digital fabrication, which were then covered with kangaroo leather, to easily degrade and pick up signs of travelling. This project extends Varadarajan's investigation into design projects as 'campaigns' within specific cultural and social communities, situated within a creative practice that re-imagines mass-produced materiality. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The Bookwallah won the Community Engagement Award at the Australian government's inaugural Australian Arts in Asia Award, which recognises the achievements of Australian artists who engage and form creative ties with the Asian region. It was exhibited at the Cowen Gallery at the State Library of Victoria in 2013. It travelled to literary festivals in Mumbai and Bangalore, as well as Goa, Chennai and Pondicherry, as well as Writers' Festivals in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The Bookwallah documentary was screened as part of Sceenlink in Federation Square, Melbourne and at the Mumbai Writers Festival. The project was initiated by AsiaLink - Australia's leading centre for the promotion of public understanding of Asia and Australia's role in the region. It received extensive reviews in: ABC News, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, The Monthly, and news outlets in India.