Cidade de Goa by Charles Correa

 

Amol Patil at Project88

In this exhibition, Amol Patil presents to us the sensation of manual scavenging. Patil demonstrates the morphings of the scavenging body in its corporeal sensations through his drawings, prints, sounds and sculptures. 

A further version of these works was exhibited at the Kochi Biennale 2022-23, the drawings of which can be seen here. One of the hallmarks of the show, the most compelling, is what I call the cloud-man, what Prasad (Shetty) calls the frog-man (last picture in the blog). Here, two legs come out of a thick dust cloud. The position of the legs indicate that the person lays ground-ward. In most probability, the body seems unconscious. A slight chance that he may also have passed away. Coalesced into the sewer sludge, the human is no longer separate from it. Engulfed into the darkness of this excreted cloud, the sliver of the subconscious body is a moment in which Patil asks questions of labour, dignity, dreams and dust. 

The settling of sludge on the skin of human body is a sensation that centers the entire exhibition. The surface laden with dust and debris moves perhaps in order to release itself of the discomfort within the folds of its crevices. Making you hold your gaze to the next motion of the body, Patil evokes the visceral sensation of being inside the manhole. 

Many of the sculptures are put together by compacting the dust, and embedding parts of the human body into them. The metal casting alludes to the forced unision of body and experience, not necessarily desired. The casting, is then the story of caste, and how one gets moulded into it. The room is subtly filled with the dreams and desires that erupt from within these clouds - whether darkness or desire - is something that the viewers are compelled to carry out of the gallery.

Nasreen Mohamedi exhibition at CSMVS

Parel at night

Badal Mahal: Chanderi

This completely trippy hybrid gate was made as an entrance gateway to Chanderi Fort. Known as Badal Mahal Gate, the bounded complex has a few different parts including an enclosed garden, a stepwell, a fort wall, a dilapidated pavilion and finally an ornate gate. through which one approaches the main fort uphill.

Apart from all other things, what particularly impressed me is the sensuous staircases aligned along the double skinned bounding wall. These snaking staircases turning softly with the folds of the wall release into the enclosed garden. Sometimes, two staircases face each other in a manner of establishing dialogue with each other. They release the user to a door that leads one into the space between the hollow thickness of the wall. (Such articulation of the wall and carving of space within its thickness can be seen in most fort buildings across the world - and I remain particularly fascinated with the the constraint and craft of space within such situations). The space between the walls connects different parts of the complex, and is a defense feature. 

The symbolic ornate gate is held between two tapering minarets that have foliated pointed arches and false windows that frame the hill behind. It seems like a mixture of many influences. A similar gate can be found (unkept) within the inner city too, taken over by wilderness and parking. 

The stepwell is neatly levelled with the ground and almost like an inverted building that has several levels to cross across. It is a beautifully crafted container inside the earth with doors, windows and passages that becomes operable and accessible when not filled with water. 

The last two photographs here are the mausoleums of the saints exhibiting exquisite jali works.