Clyde Herschel Thangkhiew

This Foundation Project implemented by IFA under Explorations will experiment with creating an interactive e-comic book accompanied by soundtracks and visualisations, giving contemporary inflections to stories from Khasi folklore. Clyde Herschel Thangkhiew is the Coordinator for this project. 

Clyde Herschel Thangkhiew is a Shillong-based concept artist, who works with the media of comic book illustration, photography and videography. Clyde has been trained in Media Technologies from St Anthony’s College, Shillong, and in Journalism and Mass Communication from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong. He was involved in theatre with Zubaan Projects, New Delhi in 2019, and did comic illustration for Northeast Archive India AV Archive, Shillong in 2020. Clyde has been making conceptual photography, sound and video production for Yowanda Productions, Shillong. Given his experience, he is best placed to be the Coordinator of this Foundation Project of IFA.

The project titled Ka Ïng which means ‘the house’ in Khasi language is an attempt to make an interactive e-comic book exploring Khasi folklore, accompanied by a soundtrack that can be played while experiencing the book. The 50-page e-comic will contain three or four chapters and links will lead the readers to the YouTube channel with the corresponding tracks and visualisations. The concept of Ka Ïng is to build various narratives from different worlds - from dark horror to those about love - with contemporary inflections, including LGBT experiences - all set inside the same house. These stories derived from Khasi folklore will deal with themes of madness, happiness, obsession, envy, justice, shame, opulence, and beauty.  

The outcome of the project will be an interactive e-comic book with an accompanying soundtrack as a YouTube album playlist. The Project Coordinator’s deliverables to IFA with the final report will be a soft copy of the e-comic book, offline versions of the soundtrack, and links to the soundtrack as a YouTube album playlist.

This project suitably addresses the framework of IFA’s Arts Practice programme in the manner in which it attempts to give voice to a new generation’s interpretation of folklore, from North East India, which is relatively unknown or not given sufficient attention in the rest of the subcontinent. 

IFA will ensure that the implementation of this project happens in a timely manner and funds expended are accounted for. IFA will also review the progress of the project at midterm and document it through an Implementation Memorandum. After the project is finished and all deliverables are submitted, IFA will put together a Final Evaluation to share with Trustees.

This project is made possible with support from Sony Pictures Entertainment Fund.