Soul of Khotachiwadi | 'Shadows of Empire' at 47A gallery
A show at 47A gallery lays bare Mumbai's storied and quaint neighbourhood
In Mumbai’s gaothans such as Khotachiwadi, the imprint of the Portuguese and British can still be seen in preserved heritage bungalows and the lifestyles of the residents. That gallery 47A is hosting a show titled Shadows of Empire is very meta, housed as it is inside one such 19th-century home in Khotachiwadi. It features shola-pith and indigo collages by Kolkata-based Jit Chowdhury and mixed media images and paintings by Mumbai’s Kaushal Parikh.
In Mumbai’s gaothans such as Khotachiwadi, the imprint of the Portuguese and British can still be seen in preserved heritage bungalows and the lifestyles of the residents. That gallery 47A is hosting a show titled Shadows of Empire is very meta, housed as it is inside one such 19th-century home in Khotachiwadi. It features shola-pith and indigo collages by Kolkata-based Jit Chowdhury and mixed media images and paintings by Mumbai’s Kaushal Parikh.
Chowdhury’s work using material from Bengal’s natural mangroves adds layers of meaning to everyday life in the village. ‘Map’ brings in the decorative Minton tile design, found in old colonial homes; ‘Urban Soul 2’ seems to portray Willy Black, guitarist of Girgaon and resident of Khotachiwadi, and many others allow the ‘walas’ of the neighbourhood a space. Blueprint-like creations by Chowdhury, like ‘Tall Shadows’, have architectural overtones and yet convey a touch of melancholy.
The bold colours and strokes of Parikh’s acrylics on canvas contrast with Chowdhury’s moody blues. His bursting-with-life ‘Rock Star’ is a hat-tip to Khotachiwadi’s most famous resident—designer James Ferreira. Parikh also has a series of pen-and-ink sketches on day-to-day moments in the wadi. But perhaps it’s his photographs that allow the viewer to understand just how fragile Khotachiwadi’s existence has been, , with bungalows disappearing and ugly modernity encroaching from all sides. His diptych 'A Place in the World' truly shows us Khotachiwadi's place in the world.
—The exhibition is on till April 19
