A village makes room for art

The one-storeyed Crasto home in Khotachiwadi, dating back to the 19th century, has been restored and now houses the gallery

On a sunny weekday afternoon, it's business as usual in Girgaum until we step into a discreet bylane of JSS Road that leads to the quiet neighbourhood of Khotachiwadi. Lined with vibrant Portuguese-style bungalows, it is home to residents of the Marathi, East Indian and Gujarati communities.

Through the glass windows of one of these cottages - this one's a distinct cobalt blue - we see collaborators Srila Chatterjee, Tara Lal and Mortimer Chatterjee. Srila is curator and founder of Baro Market, while partners Tara and Mortimer run Colaba gallery Chatterjee & Lal. Eighteen years after they first collaborated for the Kala Ghoda Festival, the trio is back with 47-A, a gallery that Srila hopes will ask questions about the position of design within a larger cultural framework. Of the gallery's simple eponymous name, Mortimer laughs, "Numbers are so important in this area. Everyone refers to bungalows and its people by their house number, so it seemed appropriate. The name also has a sense of neutrality - you can overlay all sorts of things within the space without a specific name coming in the way."

Titled Cabinet Man Aquarium Head, this art installation by artists Ruchi Bakshi Sharma and Sanjeev Sharma looks at the tangible objects of surrounding realities having a consciousness of their own. Pics/Pradeep Dhivar

For its inaugural exhibition, aptly titled Open, the gallery is showcasing strong contrasting stories through its six rooms. At the entrance is a miniature wooden model of the settlement of Khotachiwadi, celebrating the gaothan and its cultural legacy, a mix of Pathare Prabhu and East Indian lineage. This room opens into the next, and the history of Indian design after independence, from an institutional perspective, showcasing photographs from the National Institute of Design (NID) and offering a glimpse into the Nehruvian policy of industrial growth through the great factories that were built in the 1950s. We encounter the work of Haku Shah, Nelly Sethna and KG Subramanyan, individuals who looked at India's future through its 5,000-year history of design. The next two rooms are dedicated to a whimsical childhood, with works by Ruchi Bakshi Sharma, MF Husain and Prashant Miranda. The most fascinating piece here is a rare upholstered children's chair designed by Husain back in the 1940s.

Mortimer Chatterjee and Srila Chatterjee

"Our focus will continue to be design in contemporary India, working with a range of curators deeply rooted in a particular form of design that showcases a strong story and history to learn from. But, while telling a story of design history, we also want to make it available to the audience at large to buy and own," explains Srila about the gallery's future. "The three of us share a passion, but come with different perspectives, and for that we have mutual respect and acceptance. We thought this would be valuable while creating something interesting for a third person," concludes Tara.

WHAT: Open
WHERE: 47-A, Khotachiwadi, Girgaum
WHEN: Until May 9, Tuesday to Sunday, 12 to 8 PM
CALL: 8655492576