Case study 14 / 16Track artwork for Kaber Vasuki x Balan KashApril 2021

Kadhaigal

A procedural mixed-media collage exploring stories as carriers of culture, inherited identity and collective memory.

Dense procedural collage layering vivid colour, painted marks, historical images, text and film stills. — 01Kadhaigal track artwork

(About the project)

Created for Kadhaigal, a collaboration between Kaber Vasuki and Malaysian rapper Balan Kash, this artwork explores the idea of stories as carriers of culture and collective memory.

Format: Track artwork
Artists: Kaber Vasuki x Balan Kash
Released: April 2021
Process: Mixed-media procedural collage made with Processing

Stories shape identity

The piece is built around the idea that every person is shaped by the stories they inherit and the stories they pass on.

Reflecting this, the image brings together fragments from different times and contexts: ancient pottery, literature and cave paintings alongside contemporary film stills, calendar clippings and the lyrics of the track itself.

A stage in the code-based layering process used to make Kadhaigal. — 02Procedural collage process

An accumulating visual field

By layering these materials into a single visual field, the work suggests that identity and culture are never formed by one story alone, but through an accumulation of images, histories and narratives that continue to overlap and evolve.

Detailed view of overlapping historical and contemporary fragments in Kadhaigal. — 03Collage detail

An alternate procedural arrangement created during the Kadhaigal process. — 04Processing output

A developing collage composition combining image, colour and text fragments. — 05Layer development