Located within the southern tip of Mumbai, the neighbourhoods of Colaba and Fort are residence to dock yards, grand colonial structure and many of the metropolis’s museums and up to date artwork galleries. However as Mumbai’s artwork scene grows, it’s also increasing past its historic artwork district into the modern western suburb of Bandra and high-rise monetary districts like Decrease Parel and Worli.
The 14th version of Mumbai Gallery Weekend (MGW, till 12 January) makes an attempt to acknowledge this geographical shift by appointing as its co-leads two gallerists—Ayesha Parikh, of Artwork and Charlie, and Sanjana Shah, of Tao Artwork Gallery— who run areas in Bandra and Worli, respectively.
Makes an attempt had been made “a few years again” to convey Mumbai galleries to Bandra, says Shireen Gandhy, the director of Chemould Prescott Street in South Mumbai, but additionally a longtime Bandra resident. “We had a collective exhibition on the Taj Lands Finish Lodge in Bandra—a bit like an artwork truthful, however with no segregation of galleries.” Gandhy co-founded MGW in 2012, together with the opposite Colaba and Fort galleries Chatterjee & Lal, Sakshi Gallery, Gallery Maskara and Undertaking 88.
The Midtown Arts Collective was later initiated by galleries primarily based in Worli, Decrease Parel and Bandra, who felt excluded by the South Mumbai focus of town’s artwork ecosystem. “Nonetheless, we realised that to do it collectively as a metropolis, whereas being inclusive of all geographies, served the very best pursuits of all and we’ve got been a part of the MGW since 2019”, says Tao Artwork Gallery’s Shah. For the gallery weekend, she is staging a solo exhibition of terracotta works by Chippa Sudhakar.
When Tao began in 2000, their neighbourhood of Worli and the adjoining Decrease Parel predominantly comprised of defunct mills and industrial complexes. It has since been remodeled right into a district of company head places of work, luxurious motels and high-rise condominiums. “That has attracted a brand new era of millennial patrons with vital non-public wealth to our aspect of town who’re actively buying and doing up homes, and concerned about probably investing in artwork in the long run,” Shah provides.
Parikh’s Bandra gallery Artwork & Charlie is at the moment holding A map folded open, a three-artist group present curated by Zeenat Nagree. That includes the Sri Lankan artists Mahen Perera and Sabeen Omar alongside Urna Sinha, from West Bengal, the present makes use of maps and the act of tracing a route as its thematic hook.
Impressively for Mumbai, the gallery receives near 500 guests each week. “Bandra is a magnet for brand new eating places and bars as a result of it attracts younger professionals—trend designers, diplomats, legal professionals, administration consultants—who select to reside and spend time right here,” Parikh says.
For Parikh, the sense of belonging goes past enterprise and is rooted in neighborhood. Final month, she joined arms with different native companies to organise a Christmas block get together for residents of Pali Village—a traditionally Christian neighbourhood—and past. “That second reaffirmed why this place issues to me. Main with love as an alternative of uniting in hate, is the spirit of Bandra,” she says, referring to rising intolerance in India in the direction of minorities and migrants.
The annual MGW stays a focus for town’s galleries, and encourages them to stage their most bold and thought-provoking exhibitions. Began with solely 9 galleries, it has expanded to 33 within the present version. “It was post-Covid that MGW actually took off,” Gandhy says. “Over time, it has introduced not solely the galleries collectively but additionally wider audiences to up to date artwork.”
Town has additionally welcomed in recent times a significant artwork truthful, Artwork Mumbai, which is able to maintain its fourth version in November this 12 months. Nonetheless, Artwork Mumbai had solely 21 Mumbai-based galleries collaborating this 12 months, reflecting how MGW stays the extra inclusive occasion, particularly for newer galleries preferring to activate their very own areas slightly than pay excessive stand prices.
First timers this 12 months at this 12 months’s MGW which had been absent on the truthful embody the newly established galleries Muziris Modern and Fulcrum.
Among the many highlights of this 12 months’s gallery weekend exhibitions are Mithu Sen’s polemic The place do Birds Dream at Nightfall at Chemould Prescott Street, Prabhakar Pachpute’s return to Mumbai after ten years together with his solo Lone Runner’s Laboratory at Experimenter and Ranjit Kandalgaonkar’s long run undertaking cityinflux at Fulcrum, which examines the in-between areas as town of Mumbai relentless surges ahead.
