Why this illustrator is archiving Mumbai through her social media project

Girgaum

The year was 2002 and Kripa Bhatia was still a student at Sir JJ School of Art. "We were sent across the city to practise our sketching and that's when I began to draw the sights that reminded me of the city's quintessential character," she says. Subsequently, life took Bhatia to various other cities around the world. "When I returned to Mumbai in 2018, I found my old sketchbook from college and decided to take up the project again. You see, when you revisit your familiar haunts, you view them through a fresh lens. While the first time around, I was more interested in beautifying my sketches, now, I'm letting the city be my teacher," she adds. In that, Bhatia began to embrace Mumbai with all its rough edges instead of glossing over them. The result is a beautiful social media project that she's dubbed as Mapping Mumbai.

Hill Road, Bandra West

What makes Mumbai, Mumbai

Today, Bhatia focuses more on lesser-known areas and the original inhabitants of the city. "I paint glimpses of the lives of the Agris and the Kolis, as well as of the local tradespeople. My style now veers more towards urban realism," she reveals. What began as a casual documenting project has taken more definitive shape, meandering through the city's arterial network. She's been mapping along the coast of Mumbai as well as its railway routes.

Bandra West

And then, there are the micro-mapping projects that explore the city through its commerce and trade, as well as its festivals. "I was approached by several publishing platforms who took notice of these illustrations, to create picture books. For instance, with the People Place Project, we worked on a book called Be Careful Bappa, which explored the visarjan routes during the Ganapati festivities. I've thus decided to let the project exist as is and let it evolve on social media, with the illustrations viewable by all," she says, when asked about if she plans to convert these into books or other memorabilia.

Navi Mumbai

Journeying through time

In addition to seeking new muses, Bhatia also revisits landmarks she painted all those years ago, to explore how these have withstood the passage of time: "Take Haji Ali, for instance. Today, you can't see the sea at all. Similarly, the Coastal Road Project has changed the seafront drastically and irrevocably. Dwarfed by its towering skyline, Parel is unrecognisable, while the Bhendi Bazaar flyover has transformed the area. Looking back at my old sketches is, thus, almost like stepping into a time capsule and journeying into the Bombay of yore."

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