Author: Nushelle

M0A2: Timeline – Triggers and Targets

| Nushelle

Prompt: Try to plot the key moments in the development of your idea starting with the thing that began it all. That’s what we might call the “trigger”, so put that down as the first event on your timeline. Add in other key events, and try to remember important conversations or meetings.

Response: I used Timeline JS for this exercise, even though I’m usually very much a hands-on, coloured pens-and-post-its kind of girl. I like its ease of use, its media-rich format, the ability to keep adding events as I progress through QYL this year, and the fact that it is so darn pretty. I don’t do my best “thinking” work on a computer, though, so I’m using notes I started scribbling over a year ago when I was (entirely independently!) trying to figure out my trajectory. Continue reading →

2015 in review

| Nushelle
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Scout’s Landing, Angel’s Landing Trail. Zion National Park.

I haven’t had a proper personal blog in a few years, and I’ve felt its absence terribly. In 2012-13, I blogged a great deal for Building Bridges, which often functioned partially as a space to reflect on my own life, not just the project itself, and as a place to unload some of the terrible puns and extraneous detail I’m so fond of. These past couple of years, I’ve jotted down notes on my phone, in Word documents, on scraps of paper, and unpublished blog posts (some of which have been migrated over here). It frustrated me that I didn’t have one place that I could go to capture everything, and I realise in retrospect that I need this kind of space, despite my equal frustration that “everything” is fairly eclectic. So! I’m carving it out for myself now in readiness for 2016. Continue reading →

2016 Queen’s Young Leaders Award

| Nushelle

I’m thrilled to be one of 60 Queen’s Young Leaders for 2016, and I look forward to incorporating all that I learn into my work with Building Bridges. I’ve written more in depth about what the award means for me and my work on the BB blog.
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Notes on ‘Villa’

| Nushelle

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been fortunate to have worked with a crew of stellar artists in putting together the South Asian premiere of Guillermo Calderon’s Villa. It was surreal, not least because the script elegantly tackled some of the self-same issues I grapple with in my academic writing (but people would rather watch a play than read a paper!). I’m especially grateful to Indika Senanayake for putting in a massive effort to bring Calderon and his work to Sri Lanka. After two of the three performances, there was an opportunity for a Q&A with Calderon, one of which included Radhika Coomaraswamy as panellist. The questions (and the answers) were all excellent, so I’ve jotted down some of my notes. Below is the expanded version. Continue reading →

“Blowhards” – a review

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| Nushelle

“Blowhards: Braggarts, Boasters and Bastards” is the latest in Mind Adventures’ repertoire of thought-provoking theatre, albeit gentler and sparser in its conceptualisation and delivery than many of its predecessors. There are likely many reasons for this. The company’s method of devised theatre relies on the luxury of time and space to craft ideas, playfully improvise upon them, and keep the choicest interactions while brutally discarding the deadwood. However, Mind Adventures is currently in residence at the British Council, and (I believe) is tasked with producing twelve pieces of theatre during the year. With little time to work on content in danger of being jettisoned, they must necessarily follow a model that will allow them to be prolific in their output. The three short plays in “Blowhards”, written and directed by Arun Welandawe-Prematilleke, have none of the ferocious intensity of, say, “Paraya”, but are light-hearted, laugh-out-loud funny satires that play out in the cosy confines of the British Council library. Continue reading →

on taking the next step

| Nushelle

Fifteen years ago, I acted in a school play that gifted me with an enduring love for the stage. The284 copy role – an eccentric professor – remains one of my favourites, because it challenged me to be a better actress while also giving me the opportunity to reconsider how I defined myself. When writing in the school magazine (yearbook) of a fellow actress that year, I signed it “Nushelle de Silva, PhD” as an inside joke, even though the title was semi-incomprehensible to my eighth-grader self. Today, I signed away the next five-ish years of my life to pursue doctoral study in architecture at MIT, a place wherein I’ve excitedly pursued the esoteric in the company of quirky, warm, good-humoured individuals whose journeys I am always, always inspired by. It has  been a difficult decision, in part because the opportunity to work on topics, questions, and ideas that fascinate me is an absolutely terrifying gift. It requires that I truly embrace the idea that my self-defined calling in life is to unearth, cackle maniacally over, and save from eternal obscurity documents and images like this photo of JFK being mounted on an elephant. Continue reading →