Mumbai Diary: Tuesday Dossier

Pic/Satej Shinde

Mirror, mirror on the wall

An installation adorned with mirrors creates a broken montage of visitors' faces at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Fort.

New wheels for Mumbai

Tipton Dunn; (right) A skater performs a trick at the meet

Give Skate, a Los Angeles-based social skateboarding project that works with underserved skate communities around the globe is making its debut in Mumbai in style. The team kickstarted their visit with a community meet at Carter Road last Sunday, where they distributed pre-owned skateboards to enthusiasts and conducted competitions to bond with the local community. Tipton Dunn, founder and director, Give Skate, shared, "Mumbai's skateboarding scene is truly refreshing. The number of kids who have taken up the sport is already high but at the same time there is so much more room to grow in a young and passionate city like this."

Over a short call with this diarist on his way to the second leg of the visit in Nerul, Dunn shared, "We would love to invest in Indian skateboarding companies as and when they develop. While brief visits are great for the community, the end goal is to create long term impact in the form of employment, careers, and an environment where there can be sustained growth."

Sketching timeless classics

An artwork by Zainab Tambawalla

While the city had its eyes glued on to the shiny vintage rides at The Vintage and Classic Car Club of India's (VCCCI) Vintage Car Fiesta over the weekend, Urban Sketchers Mumbai, a sketching group, found their muse in the swanky wheels. "As a group, we are constantly looking for unique experiences to draw inspiration from. I felt like a child standing in an art store wanting to get my hands on everything. The cars were all so stunning; it was hard to choose which one to sketch," Zainab Tambawalla, lead administrator, Urban Sketchers Mumbai, told this diarist, adding that nearly 50 sketchers joined the initiative to create artworks of varying styles and complexities. "The aim is to allow people to express themselves through their sketches. As long as you're there, and sketching live with us, you are free to take minutes or hours to finish your artwork," she added.

End of an era

Ashish Anand, Jaya Bachchan and Gogi Saroj Pal (seated) at DAG, Mumbai

Last weekend began with sad news for Indian art with the passing of Gogi Saroj Pal. The Delhi-based contemporary artist passed away at the age of 79 on Saturday. Known for her depiction of the feminist structure through distinctive figures, Pal worked across mediums of sculptures, canvas, gouache, ceramic and weaving. "Gogi Saroj Pal was part of several DAG exhibitions and we were fortunate to have in her an artist with a distinctive personality - as a painter, printmaker and sculptor, as well as a person with a limitless sense of joie de vivre," shared Ashish Anand, CEO and MD of DAG Mumbai. The gallery hosted the veteran artist last year as part of their exhibition on women artists, A Place In The Sun. In fact, the gallery revealed that they had been working on yet another retrospective on the artist extending to her latest works of sculpture. The upcoming exhibition will now be a tribute to Pal. "She reflected herself closely in her art which, when looked at from close quarters, showcases all her traits: distinctive, feminist, with a voice that set her apart from her peers," Anand told this diarist.

Temporary shift for readers

The entrance of the library at CSMVS; (right) Jayashree Joshi

The Goethe-Institut Mumbai took to Instagram yesterday to welcome readers to their library, which has now found a new home in Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya's (CSMVS) Coomaraswamy Hall. The library, which has been frequented by students and literature and theatre aficionados, continues to stand in all its might, Jayashree Joshi, head of the library, assured us. "We have ensured that the workstations, gaming station, the piano, and the reading space are all accommodated in the hall. It was a challenging task, but these elements are integral to our library space," she shared, adding that the team has worked on creating a warm and welcoming ambience using mixed lights, quiet corners and collective spaces for studying. "The library still remains a favourite in the community and we are hoping to be back at the Max Mueller Bhavan by the end of the year," she revealed.

Slow to start

Music lovers, or at least those who managed to make it, had a whale of a time at the Lollapalooza music festival in Mahalaxmi last weekend. While they did end with the high notes of Sting, OneRepublic and Keane, the big weekend did begin with some starting hitches. With crowds pouring in early on day one, there were a few delays at the gate. This led to further delays for some of the opening acts who ended up with shorter sets than expected, as shared by one performer.