Category: environment

Mumbai’s Iconic CSMVS Museum Has A Student Ambassador

On By Sumedha RaikarIn art, Craft, environmentLeave a comment

I had a lovely Sunday afternoon at the Sir J.J. School of Art campus where students of various streams had displayed their annual course work. Students’ presentations — sculpture, installations, paintings, sketches, drawings, architecture models, merchandise etc — were kept open for visitor feedback. Be it pencil portraits, watercolor drawings, miniature designs or brass work, one could sense (and meet) young twenty-something creative minds which had put their best foot forward to express contemporary realities. While some works were uni-dimensional Nature paintings that evoked wonder, others were three-dimensional wood, pottery and clay forms that invited a deeper inquiry. I have shared three samples below to show the diverse range.

Having witnessed students’ ideation in myriad mediums, I turned to the Applied Art gallery where around two hundred small and big visual communication projects attracted my attention. To begin with, the first and second year typography students had displayed their calligraphic skills. Nature photography and indoor camerawork was also commendable. But the most eye catching were the advertising campaigns which students had designed for their ‘clients’ which ranged from Hajmola lozenges to Zomato Food Delivery. Some of the ads tended to spread a social message. For example, the Parle G ad condemned child labour, whereas the ad for Samsung Mobile warned against unmonitored cell phone use by minors.

Samsung Ad

Of the total twenty-four ad campaigns that were on display, one of them had special relevance for me. Fourth year Applied Art student Shivam Bharti (21) had chosen to created a campaign for a Mumbai museum, the most visited majestic Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya located in the Kala Ghoda precinct. The student wanted to drive attention to the enriching museum experience, in general, and to the CSMVS in particular. I found it a rare choice. In a country where heritage museums, national parks and libraries do not enjoy robust patronage (despite minimal entry fees and student discounts) students like Bharti bring home the need to make these institutions sellable and engaging.

Museums teach us to look back; they inculcate an interest in past civilizations; they help us to perceive the ‘present‘ with a perspective; they are rich formative forces for students of history. And yet they are not as frequented as one would have wished them to be.

Mumbai has around thirty museums worth our time and attention, the most expansive and extensive being the CSMVS which houses over fifty thousand artefacts. It is often impossible to cover all its permanent galleries in a single day span; its Natural History section offers several interactive activities. I have recently attended one of their taxidermi workshops which is a great learning for all age groups. They have an amusing mix of exhibits of ancient Indian history along with objects from foreign lands.

I am so glad that a J J School applied art student realised the need to popularise the CSMVS in his own small way, at a distinctively small but commendable scale. As part of the assignment, Bharti photographed key artefacts of the museum during repeated visits; he also created videos for social media amplification which arouse popular interest in the CSMVS.

Shivam Bharti, mentored by famous adman Gopi Kukde and faculty Avinash Gharde, has created eighteen frames which demonstrate the enlivening possibilities in the CSMVS. The copy alongside ad visuals shows Bharti‘s marketing skills, which he has put to innovative use for the museum cause. Here are a few samples:

Bharti takes a cue from the museum’s innate popularity
He puts the onus on you! A direct question from a well-meaning Mumbaikar!
Do you think museums are boring?

His use of the Mahishasurmardini image is indeed imaginative. Referring to the typical middle class fear of the ‘system‘ he asks us if we have the right to praise a Goddess, if we can’t even dare to register a consumer complaint!

He appeals us to wear the helmet! Again putting to use a headgear showcased in one of CSMVS‘ artefacts, the applied art student makes us think about our current day priorities!

Do wear the helmet and do visit the CSMVS!

Shivam Bharti’s take on museums is inspiring; where he lacks in English communication skills, he very well makes up in his well-meaning art. As he hones his art and betters his copyrighting skills and enters the industry, he promises to take on similar socially vital communication projects. Meanwhile, I take your leave, only to be back with newer collectibles from my thought haversack!

Cotton Magic

On By Sumedha RaikarIn Cotton art, environmentLeave a comment

I am quite enamored by artists who use a specific medium to express themselves. Their consistency in the use of the medium often becomes their message and their identity marker. Be it water colours or corrugated tin or plywood or paper pulp, artists seek a creative joy while toying with these materials. The familiarity of their choice becomes the key aspect of their art. In this context, one artist’s tryst with surgical cotton has been super-admirable.

Around two years ago, I met the Nasik-based cotton sculptor Anant Khairnar in his hometown Jawhar. Jawhar’s festive Dusshera was an ideal occasion for me to understand his growing up years in a tribal remote region. Being an easily accessible person, Khairnar made me privy to the transitions, personal and professional, which ultimately led him to choose surgical cotton as his preferred medium.

Giving Finishing Touches to the Mahatma way back in 1998

Later, I wrote about him in my Midday column which received considerable attention online and offline. Ever since I have been in touch with the Guinness Book Record holder who has experimented with cotton for the last three decades. The range of his work is zapping — from 12-feet tall Rama idol made for Nasik’s Kumbh congregation to the most recent 2.5 feet Swami Vivekanand, which he is now giving finishing touches to. An art lover in Kolkata has specially commissioned the Vivekanand creation, which also speaks for Khairnar’s nationwide admirers who value his art. It is not just the finesse in his work that makes his so sought-after, but Khairnar is most admired for the self-financed research (often extensive travel) he conducts before taking on an assignment. The research is directed towards understanding, rather viewing, the subject before attempting to recreate it in the cotton avatar.

Anant Khairnar’s latest creation: Vedant Philosopher-thought leader Swami Vivekanand

Also it is not just the accolades, or the 2000-odd cotton sculptures to his credit, that make Khairnar a great artist. For the 52-year-old sculptor, the real joy is in constant experimentation. He experiments with types of cotton, the chemicals and the glue that hold the cotton in the intended shape and form, the natural dyes that complement his medium, and also the instruments that aid his hands while he infuses life in cotton artifacts — whether it is Lord Ganesha or Mahatma Gandhi or Amitabh Bachchan. His cotton representation of the Life Insurance Corporation logo has also received profuse praise.

The LIC Logo: Cotton Sculpture of Anant Khairnar

What is even more commendable is his willingness to share his knowledge. His current clientele and fanbase puts him in a position of privilege, where his art is unrivalled. But Khairnar believes in giving back to his art lovers and younger artists.

Former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in A Cotton Avatar

Despite his earlier reservations against demos, he has now started with short one-hour do-it-yourself cotton art tutorials. The recent one in Nasik, where he created a Shivaji Maharaj bust, was a tremendous success. Hopefully, younger and diverse artists will learn from Khairnar.

A Demo in Progress: Khairnar constructs a Shivaji Maharaj in an art exhibitiion

In popular imagination, surgical cotton is equated with medical use. It evokes the imagery of open wounds. Soft raw cotton is associated with pillows and mattresses, not to forget the cotton wicks used in Indian poojas. It is exactly these popular equations and associations that Khairnar aims to counter. For him, surgical cotton is a world in itself. I am sharing the photos of his recent work, which prove his rich explorations of cotton possibilities! I hope you enjoy Khairnar’s cotton cosmos!

Samsara: A Scary Lifeless City

On By Sumedha RaikarIn art, environmentLeave a comment

As I had said in my last post, thoughts come without notice. This weekend, I met an artist-adman-photographer Prashant Godbole who unwittingly got drawn into an exhibition of reclaimed everyday material — dried roots, yellowed leaves, twigs, chisels, barks — to bring home the arid, dry, lifeless environment in cities like Mumbai, or rather in most places of the world.

R.I.P Mother Nature: Godbole Laments the Loss of Greenery

Godbole, who has been working is several mediums since the last 30 years, ranging from street photography to the Hamara Bajaj ad campaign, was planning an exhibition of his paintings and sketches of conceptual art. He had booked the space months ago at Jehangir Art Gallery, like most artists do in this competitive space-crunched city. When the 56-year-old artist was toying with possibilities and ideas, something disturbing was happening in his neighbourhood. Around 50 trees were cut randomly near the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Prabhadevi where he resides; a public park in his vicinity was decimated one day; the trees on the main road leading to Shivaji Park were also gone a little later. Godbole was hurt by the growing lack of greenery in his locality, thanks to the construction of the underground metro railway. He wanted to react to the lifeless brown around him, and also wanted to see if he, as an artist, could bring back the green in some way.

Artist Prashant Godbole

He started working, three months ago, on a set of images that convey the barren city which different forces are contributing to. He juxtaposed nails, knobs, scrapped plywood, images of leafless trees and extravagant furniture, a discarded saw, twigs collected from a beach walk and much more from the everyday realm. His Samsara was presented at the Jehangir for six days, in which he invited the city to have a look at its collective unfolding future. His human and bird forms indicated the harm inflicted by the human race on itself. “By destroying the habitats of several species, we are doing no good to ourselves. In fact, we are writing, and speedily so, our own obituary, ” he comments.

Trees No More

In 22 artworks, wooden-framed and themed in black-white-brown, Prashant Godbole underlines the reasons why all of us need to oppose mindless construction activity and mega infrastructure projects, floated in the name of progress and globalisation. He shows the extent of damage. His Samsara urges us to take care of our ecology, to stop the “dance of death,” even if it is a bit too late.

The Dance of Death

Godbole’s aim is not just to sensitise us to the gory future. He wants to do more, which is why the proceeds of the exhibition are going to Grow Trees non-governmental group which ensures tree plantations are done in consonance with the ecosystem. “I am happy that they take the Gram Panchayats into confidence, so that wrong trees don’t take root,” he told this blogger.

More than anything else, Godbole is happy that Samsara has generated healthy interactions. Children, adults, tourists, city dwellers, collegians, conservationists, all types of individuals have visited and commented on the exhibits. “I am happy that my thought was received so warmly. Navwari-clad women getting off from the Mumbai Darshan buses at Kala ghoda have visited Samsara, so have children on the south Mumbai excursions, and so have entrepreneurs selling off-beat ideas. The exhibits have given rise to conversations centering around on the lack of trees. That traction is invaluable.”

Friends, it is the thought that counts. As I unpack my thought haversack, I look forward to sharing more. I end with a visual that captures artist Prashant Godbole’s thoughts-in-the-making while he was building his Samsara exhibition! I wish such creative restorative-yet-provoking spaces to all of us!