05 June,2010 07:00 AM IST | | Aditi Sharma
Seven artists take to the streets of Mumbai to address issues of displacement, sexuality and alienation, using posters and performances. Sing along with two gypsy-performers dressed as a taxiwalla and a bar dancer
Remember the Bom-Bom-Bom... Bombay Meri Hai song that played religiously at every picnic/gathering in the '80s and early '90s? The Mignone and The Jetliners version threw an open invite to citizens of the world to visit Mumbai, where the "ladies are nice and gents are full of spice".
(From left) Uday Shanbag, Corrado Cotignano, Binaifer Bharucha and
Leandre D'souza pose with iammumbai posters. pic/ Sameer Markande
This weekend, Georgina Maddox and Neelima Aryan take on the song once again, in an attempt to lure fellow Indians from UP, Bihar and Nagaland; to hell with what sectarian political parties say. Welcome to iammumbai cultural campaign, conceptualised by the art organisation Art Oxygen (ArtO2) in collaboration with artists Uday Shanbag, Binaifer Bharucha, Corrado Cotignano, Georgina and Neelima.u00a0
T-shirt gave birth to campaign
It all started with a T-shirt design. Leandre D'souza and Claudio Maffioletti, founders of ArtO2, found Uday's iammumbai design on a tee engaging enough to put together a collaborative art project. "Uday's design declares that the city is culturally diverse and belongs to everyone. We wanted to carry out a cultural campaign mimicking the same communicative tools used by political parties," explains Leandre.
If political parties can use posters to propagate their agendas, why can't a common man use the same medium to express his grievances? While Binaifer photographed Mumbaikars, Corrado designed the posters around a poignant poem, which the group found scribbled in a local train compartment. The campaign wants Mumbaikars to answer a simple question: Who does the City of Dreams really belong to?
So, next time you're around Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, make sure you look out for the posters glued on walls. "The poem speaks about the emotions of alienation and longing for home, experienced by the out-of-towners," says Leandre.
Whose Mumbai is it anyway?
Dressed as a taxiwalla and a bar dancer, Georgina and Neelima will travel across the city to give flash performances. "We've written songs that deal with political issuesu00a0-- the taxiwallas being targeted, dance bars being shut down, to name a few. The plan is to reclaim the city and public places that belong to Indians," asserts Georgina.
ArtO2 and the artists don't wish to engage in pointing fingers at any particular political party or incident through the campaign. Yet, the political overtones can't be missed. "Georgina and Neelima will also explore issues like taboo, sexuality and displacement. We might not be able to provide solutions to the concerns, but we hope to be the catalyst that initiates a discussion or even an argument."
Mumbai seeks inspiration from America
Leandre says the inspiration for the iammumbai campaign comes from two international groups:
>> New York-based Guerilla Girls, an anonymous group of radical feminist visual artists, used posters, books and billboards to expose gender and racial imbalance of artists represented in galleries and museums. They wore gorilla masks in public and took on names of dead women artists as pseudonyms.
>> Founded by four Chicano artists, ASCO was known for their urban street interventions that interrogated social spaces of LA in the seventies. Through performances, the artists brought attention to urban spectacles of violence, exploitation and discrimination prevalent against Mexicans at the time.
On: Today, 5 pm at CST Station, opposite BMC Headquarters, near Azad Maidan; 5.45 pm outside Kitab Mahal, DN Road, Fort; 6.40 pm at Jehangir Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda; 7.40 pm at Marine Drive, opposite Pizzeria.
On: Tomorrow, 5 pm at Bandra Bandstand, opposite Barista; 7 pm at Juhu Beach, opposite Mocha.
