Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Atul Kamble

Veiled thoughts

A woman catches a moment of calm under her ghunghat at the Gateway of India.

Rooms with a view

Black Masks On Roller Skates - I, mixed media, pen and paper, 14.5 x 10.5 inches, 2022; photograph by Anil Rane. Pic Courtesy/The artist and Project 88

While growing up in Parel, the crowded chawls in the neighbourhood left a deep impact on visual artist Amol K Patil. His artworks - tracing the texture of the dank, peeling walls of these cramped houses, and the lives of sanitation workers, construction workers and residents who call the buildings home - have been acquired for Tate's collection through the Frieze Tate Fund 2022, supported by Endeavor, in the UK. The fund has supported the acquisition of more than 150 works by 90 artists for Tate's collection. The artworks titled Black Masks On Roller Skates are part of a larger series the artist showcased at the contemporary art exhibition Documenta fifteen. Speaking to this diarist from Amsterdam, where he is currently stationed for a residency, Patil shared that he is happy with the selection. "I have a lot of friends in the Parel-Crawford Market area. I have explored these areas a lot in my practice," he added.

When the OGs get together

Channels like MTV not only shaped the choices of ‘90s kids but also their style. Memories of after-school TV time came rushing back when this diarist spotted Kunal Vijayakar's post with the OG hosts who ruled our childhood - Mini Mathur, Cyrus Sahukar, Malaika Arora, Shenaz Treasury, Gaurav Kapoor, Maria Goretti, Preeta Sukhtankar, and Nikhil Chinappa - at a lunch party. The agenda was to have a good time with great food, courtesy of Treasury, Mathur and Goretti. "Seher Bedi, an old friend, suggested that the gang should get together. A WhatsApp group was made and the date was set. Cyrus Broacha and Amrita Arora were sorely missed," he added.

Hilltop of devotion

Feast of Our Lady of Fatima at Irmitri. Pic Courtesy/Renold Bechri

Recently, on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, locally referred to as Irmitri cha sann, Mogan Rodrigues - who chronicles stories of Dharavi Island - shone a light on an old church on Irmitri hilltop, which once served as a watchtower to check invasive movement in the sea. "The feast in the area started in 1950, when the church was revived after a Dongri parishioner donated a statue of Our Lady of Fatima. But the church was built as early as 1613 and has been witness to several invasions and political struggles." He recounts how there was also a secret route under the altar for quick escapes. "Over time, the passage has been covered with debris. There's very little documentation about the Dongri church," he said, adding that sharing its history can help create awareness about its contribution.

Woof, what an idea

Talk about pup-cycling. In 2020, Pet Owners and Animal Lovers (PAL) Foundation commissioned an artist to paint portraits of their furry friends for calendars. Noticing that they had a lot of leftover calendars, they have upcycled the calendars into magnets, coasters, bookmarks and framed prints, available on
@mypalclub for R50. "These are our special-needs animals who are up for adoption. The portraits are beautiful, so we didn't want to throw them," said chairperson Aditi Nair. Proceeds from the sales will help these indies and support PAL's rescue work.

Archives of wisdom

Museums are not just keepers of our past; they also house lessons to guide our future. The Global Research Museums Summit 2022 in Munich brings together 200 museum directors and senior officials to delve into the significance of museum collections and what they mean for us, as our world confronts conflict and climate change, revealed Tasneem Zakaria Mehta, director, Dr Bhau Daji Lad (BDL) Museum, who delivered the keynote address. She discussed the transformative power of objects through a case study of the collection of Bombay Pottery at the museum. "By juxtaposing museum objects with contemporary art through our exhibition programmes, we challenge assumptions and hierarchies, and dismantle colonial narratives. Our latest publication, Mumbai - A City Through Objects, 101 Stories from the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum, also takes a fresh look at object histories and the people who made them against a backdrop of the relationship between the museum and Mumbai."