As James Ferreira's iconic house gets ready to host yet another exhibition, here is a model to keep heritage homes relevant in a contemporary way
The idyllic charm of James Ferreira's bungalow never grows old, even if the city's high-rises lay claim aggressively on its neighbourhood. Ferreira is one of the longest, and most prominent, residents of Khotachiwadi, an urban village in Girgaum. It is in such an environment that the 61-year-old Ferreira nourishes his bungalow with the choicest antiques, paintings and textile works that he has collected over the years. It is both home and studio to the fashion designer, notable for the drapes he creates.
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Over the last decade, Ferreira has come to champion the heritage movement in Khotachiwadi, by advocating the preservation and restoration of the century-old bungalows that dot the area. While several have fallen prey to the pressures of redevelopment, a few like Ferreira's 47-G have withstood the encroaching high-rises. However, Ferreira is not foolhardy. "I want to see how we can keep heritage bungalows like mine relevant and keep them protected," he says.
The most logical thing to do, says Ferreira, is to open up the space to art, and to sit-down dinners. Next Sunday, on October 29, Ferreira will host an art exhibition of works by young artists from MSU Baroda. Titled Archival Dialogues, the show is curated by Pronoy Chakraborty, a postgraduate student at MSU Baroda, and presented by Priyasri Art Gallery. This is not the first time that Ferreira has opened the doors of his home studio to an art exhibition. In the past, he has hosted the works of Paul B, and, more recently, this year, an archival exhibition by Alisha Sett as part of FOCUS photography festival.
However, with Archival Dialogues, the house itself has become the muse of the six artists. The concerns of the artists, say Chakraborty and gallerist Priyasri Patodia, reflect the spirit of Ferreira's bungalow -- its antiquated porcelain, glass and terracotta objects, tapestries and paintings.
The six participating artists visited Ferreira's quaint bungalow to study its various aspects. "The space had its own monumentality. We wanted to respond to the artefacts, and have a dialogue between contemporary art and the antiquities in his house," says Chakraborty. Looking at the works in Archival Dialogues, it takes a trained eye to understand the many tangential references to the space it will inhabit. The use of visual metaphors drawn from nature in Priyanka D'Souza and Mithra Kamalam's works see resonances in Ferreira's garden. Shreya Shukla, who draws on the idea of death, will show her paintings that use short brush strokes much like the sombre paintings, such as the rendition of the Shroud of Turin, in Ferreira's studio.
The cost of turning his house into a pop-up gallery, says Ferreira, is nearly nothing. He intends to showcase some of his garment
collections alongside the exhibition, even while moving his existing away furniture from the studio.
When we all tried to get that slippery by Mithra Kamalam
While Ferreira says that his taste in art is more classical and modern, such as the Impressionists, he believes that there is no reason why Khotachiwadi can't turn into a vibrant space for contemporary artists, much like New Delhi's Hauz Khas area — full of restaurants and designer boutiques, even while preserving its architectural heritage. "The only way to keep heritage alive is by living in it," he says.
Where: 47-G, Khotachiwadi, Girgaum
When: October 29, 3 PM - 7.30 PM (preview); till November 10, 11 AM - 6 PM (closed on Sundays)
Call: 24903782
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