Letters from Hinterland

There is a definite artistic minority in the world today. What is considered mass culture today mostly constitutes of art and expression made purely for a commercial cause. And, sadly, of very bad taste. Dangerous to generalise, I know, but what you see around you, be it commercial cinema, commercial music, commercial graphic design all contribute to a very uninspiring visual and aural landscape.

The need of the hour is of a place for like-minded people and artists to come together and live in a sort of utopian society where each one contributes to the growth of the society and in the process also learns and grows artistically. A growth within, a growth of the soul, so to speak.

This place, which we would like to call Hinterland, is the brainchild of L, a mysterious yet optimistic version of Kurtz (Marlon Brando in Apocalypse now). The Hinterland book comprises of letters from residents of Hinterland to L. These letters are from random residents who have written and documented their thoughts. The letters have one thing in common. A coming of age of these very distinct separate lives. And that is what connects them. They may be artists, teachers, architects, orphans, musicians, cooks or filmmakers. But they all come together to bring to life this utopian dream. Hinterland, at its most fundamental level, is a collective of people living in harmony in an environment where there is no concept of money, no concept of automobiles, no concept of day-jobs, no concept of time.