Amid three high-profile indigenous art and craft events this month, a look at how Mumbaiites, seeking art that will reflect their roots, are turning to traditional forms

DIFFERENT STROKES

Amid three high-profile indigenous art and craft events this month, a look at how Mumbaiites, seeking art that will reflect their roots, are turning to traditional forms

“Many young homeowners are buying indigenous art and craft works because these works give them a sense of rootedness in their culture. These works are also more affordable and so are within their reach.”
RADHI PAREKH, Mumbai’s first gallery dedicated to indigenous arts and crafts, which opened at Kala Ghoda a year ago

From page 9 Riddhi Doshi
Naheed Carrimjee grew up surrounded by European art, with paintings and sculptures scattered about her family’s Breach Candy home. There are only a handful of them on display today.
Instead, the visual centrepiece of her elegant drawing room is a large Uppada textile art work from Hyderabad that she bought at an art and craft exhibition in Mumbai 10 years ago.
“It was a gift for my late mother, and the only one from my collection that she liked,” says the 45-year-old solicitor and notary, smiling.
Carrimjee currently owns more than 150 pieces of folk and tribal Indian art, including a number of Mata Ni Pachedi folk art pieces from Gujarat, Madhubani paintings from Bihar and Gond paintings from Madhya Pradesh.
It’s a collection built up over 15 years, but 70% of these works — ranging in cost from R30 to R1 lakh — have been acquired over the past three years. “That’s when I started making enough money to buy art,” she says.
Carrimjee, who spent four years in the US and UK studying economics and art history, is typical of a new breed of collectors who are choosing indigenous Indian art over contemporary Indian or European works — despite the fact that indigenous art appreciates very slowly in value over time.

“Youngsters are now travelling extensively. Seeing how indigenous arts and crafts are appreciated around the world, they are encouraged to do the same,” says Shilpa Shah, a businesswoman and collector who, with her husband Praful, created the Tapi (Textiles & Art of the People of India) collection in the 1970s, now regarded as one of the richest collections of textile art in the country. “Earlier, people didn’t have the opportunity or means to travel and so prized all things foreign by default.”
A high-profile launch on Thursday for Kashmir Shawls, a book on this segment of the Tapi collection, was one of three events showcasing indigenous art in the city over just two weeks
(seebox), indicating an increased interest in these forms.
The second was a Pichwai exhibition that featured a concert by classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj. And the third will be the Paramparik Karigar exhibition on December 15, the fourth PK show to be held in Mumbai this year.
PK, an NGO that works to promote Indian arts and crafts, has been holding exhibitions in Mumbai for 15 years and raised the number of shows three years ago, from two a year to four.
“Over the past three years we have seen a 20% to 30% increase in footfalls and sales every year,” says Anu Chowdhury-Sorabjee, a member of the PK organising committee.
Many of Carrimjee’s pieces, in fact, were brought at Paramparik Karigar exhibitions in Mumbai. “These works give me a strong sense of belonging and heritage,” she says. “It also feels good to help our traditional artists and
craftsmen.”