The journeys within Mumbai

Journey

Contemporary furniture store Red, Blue & Yellow is hosting a photography exhibition by filmmaker Sunhil Sippy. Titled Journey, the show features 12 images that capture the heart of urban Mumbai.

An image depicting an express train

The photographs offer a glimpse of the beauty that lies in mundane activity and landscapes across the city, which ordinarily miss the eye. The first set features eight images that focus on the trains that keep Mumbai ticking. The second set reflects an entirely different journey. At the Darukhana Ship Breaking Yard in Mumbai, Sippy captures the passage of a ship on its way to death through his images. These photographs present a dramatic and apocalyptic vision of little known aspects of the city.

An image from the collection depicting the Darukhana Ship Breaking Yard

Sippy shares, "I focussed on the eastern seaboard of the city as I found it untainted and obscure. The imagery was broadly industrial, but this led me to the fascinating area of Sandhurst Road station. I shot there over a period of a three years. It piqued my interest in stations and trains and the spirit of commuting. I decided to focus on the trains, observing them as a nerve centre through which the city functions."

Apocalypse

He adds that the difficult part was avoiding the everyday mayhem: "I was clearly entering into the chaos but with a clear approach, which was to use the camera to help me capture something esoteric and moody; something a little deeper than the obvious."

Last Passenger

One of the aims behind organising the exhibition at a furniture store is to promote photography as an art that can be integrated into daily living as a part of home design. Sippy suggests that when it comes to art and home décor, it must not be coordinated. He feels that a piece of art or photography should be collected if it speaks to you in a particular way at a particular time in your life. "It need not ‘match' your home design. In fact, dissonance can be exciting. Discarding something because it doesn't match with a new home is wrong in my opinion," he sums up.

On: May 7 to June 15
At: Red, Blue & Yellow, G-11, Laxmi Woollen Estate, Shakti Mill Lane, Mahalaxmi, Mumbai - 400011
Call: 66260400/66662641