Where’s Mari?
The write-up below is about a project of mine that is currently a work-in-progress.
Where’s Mari is a children’s book (for ages 6-12+) inspired by the need to represent the intricately layered narratives found in urban Indian cities. Using detailed illustration and an interactive search-and-find format, the child can explore and learn about the places they live in, seeing their familiar surroundings represented.
We know that stories and characters are a great way to get young readers curious about the world, and I wish to encourage them to observe the patterns of life in our environment with a book that contains lots of richly illustrated, hand-drawn details they can get lost in. The books’ storyline follows the adventures of the wandering titular cat, Mari, and will address topics like sustainability, conservation and climate change. The books illustrations serve as an authentic record of life and livelihoods in modern day India with depictions of nature, busy street scenes, and domestic interiors for children to explore in detail.
Seeing their local environment in a book can be magical for a child who is just learning to read, write, and express themselves through language.
The interplay between the built structures of a city and the natural world, in a constantly changing landscape, is full of stories that teach crucial and universal lessons. The book will be in a search-and-find format—predominantly visual—with text used to drive the narrative forward and pose open-ended questions and talking points to the readers. I set out to create a book with hand-illustrated artwork that children (and people of all ages) can pore over, while discovering hidden details along the way.
Rough sketches of people doing various activities, to form part of one of the book spreads
