Creativity flows onto city streets

Anjali Joseph / TNN / May 6, 2007, 06:17 IST

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Murals depicting scenes from the early maritime history of Surat and Mumbai will be painted on walls of the naval dockyard.

MUMBAI: Unexpected things can happen when prominent Mumbaikars return from foreign holidays. Two of these things are currently on view in the city: the murals depicting scenes from the early maritime history of Surat and Mumbai, painted on part of the wall of the naval dockyard, near Lion Gate; and the 23 life-size fibreglass cows, elephants and lions painted with different designs that were recently installed on the pavement and traffic islands adjacent to the Indian Merchants Chamber (IMC) building at Churchgate.
Neither project has applied to the civic heritage committee for permission, though the dockyard is listed as a Grade I structure, and the IMC building is within the Marine Drive heritage precinct.
Heritage committee chairman Sharad Upasani said the committee discussed the matter this week and is writing to both the IMC and the navy. “Since we didn’t grant permission to either project, we will be writing to the bodies involved to find out how they went ahead with the projects,’’ said Upasani, though he acknowledged that “people sometimes do things that they think will beautify an area, rather than trying to cause any damage to heritage’’.
The murals are the brainchild of philanthropist Sangita Jindal who has done much to support art and heritage in the city. “Two years ago when I went to Philadelphia as an Eisenhower Fellow I saw the murals there, which are painted by poor people. They document their lives and brighten otherwise depressing areas by decorating the walls,’’ said Jindal.

She felt the idea could be adopted in poorer areas of Mumbai, but eventually found no takers for the idea until she and artist Brinda Chudasama Miller approached the navy.
Admiral S S Byce agreed to covering the street side of the Dockyard wall with murals telling the story of the city. He stipulated that the first paintings should depict maritime history, Jindal said. “The rest of the wall will show paintings by modern artists and interpretations by children of the story of Mumbai,’’ she said. As for heritage issues—the outer dockyard wall represents a part of the city that has not visually changed in the last 300 years—Jindal said that “as far as I am aware the navy has obtained all the relevant permissions. That’s why the project has taken six months to complete’’.

The fibreglass animals, meanwhile, resulted from the European holiday of former IMC president Arvind Jolly and his wife Rashmi. “Last year we visited Switzerland and we saw the street art project ‘Cow Parade’ in Zurich, where 800 fibreglass cows have been painted by artists. We thought it was wonderful. It has been adopted in several other cities and we thought that it should be done in Mumbai,’’ said Jolly.
The Rs 10 lakh project commemorates IMC’s centenary this year. A Lalbaug Ganesh sculptor made the fibreglass cows, and at the suggestion of former municipal commissioner Johny Joseph, elephants and lions were added to avoid upsetting Hindu sentiment. The animals were then decorated by students of the J J College of Art, which celebrated its 150th anniversary this year.
“The BMC told us they wanted to collaborate on the project, and it was approved by Johny Joseph as commissioner,’’ said Jolly. The animals are likely to be on view for around two years, he added.

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