This work was triggered by my first visit to India, and my encounter with the Auto-Rickshaw and the traffic of Bangalore city. I was instantly fascinated by the contrast between the traffic (the noise of horns, the speed of the cars and the traffic jams) and the peaceful landscapes that are painted at the back of these three-wheel taxis.

These landscapes decorating these “mobile” homes are like dreams expressing desires and illusions of tranquility; dreams that might be reached in one of the journeys or might bring relief when other passengers or drivers look at them while they are stuck in the traffic.

I took pictures of these paintings since the first day I walked around Bangalore. I also stopped at traffic lights and went to some railway and bus stations to find many Autos and to capture these pictures. With these images I created a computer presentation with Flash that displays these landscapes in a sequence that resembles a road movie, a road journey. This is projected inside a house that I did with materials used by the Autos. Because many of these painted landscapes depict little houses, I decided that a house was the bets environment to show the film. Moreover, these Autos work like mobile homes for most drivers, as they spend most of their day in the car, and they often decorate them in similar ways as one would decorate and take care of a house.

The house I built has a scale similar to this car, and contains many of these framed landscapes that work like small windows on its outer walls and above the door.

The whole work is done with materials that are used for the Autos: plastic fabrics, metal buttons with flower shapes, leader frames, enamel painted landscapes. The work was also done with the help of people that work in the car industry. All the fabric of the house was sewn in Shivajinagar, working together with people who repair and sew the covers of the Autos, their seats and interior. Some of the landscapes I used were recovered from old cars, walking in Shivajinagar. Because some frames were empty I decided to employ a painter (who makes these landscapes) to paint some new ones. He came to the gallery where the work was shown, to paint them on site while I supervised the work and documented the process.”