FEB 22, 2015 – APR 7, 2015
Industrial Arts Gallery | Kamalnayan Bajaj Special Exhibitions Gallery | 19th Century Paintings Mumbai Gallery | Origins of Mumbai Gallery
The center-piece of this exhibition is CAMP’s much-travelled film From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf its India premiere, presented in the heart of the Museum, transforming its historic environment into a cinematic space.
"Country of the Sea" is an exhibition bringing together CAMP’s long term maritime world project in and around the western Indian Ocean, presented for the first time in Mumbai. A six-year collaboration with sailors and others who live and work on the edges of this vast landscape from Kuwait to Mombasa, along the Indian, Iranian, East African and Arab coasts lies at the heart of this project, which has taken many forms. An unusual map which shares its name with the exhibition title has been produced by CAMP in collaboration with young artists from Clark House Initiative, especially for this Museum exhibition. The work is inspired by a remarkable Gujarati chart of the Gulf of Aden dated around 1810, in which we see a drawing of Arabian and Somali coasts close together like two bodies almost about to touch. The map the artists have produced remarkable for its scale - 20 feet by 5 feet - is a poignant reminder of the long ago fracture of the continental drift which is now bridged by the ubiquitous sea trade manned by Gujarati sailors since the 17th century. In Country of the Sea, the coastlines now come closer together and evoke the cultural proximities and divides produced by these seas, so important to the city of Mumbai which also features prominently at one of its edges.
CAMP's work over several years, has mapped through film, text and systemic interventions the living histories of sailors and port labourers and workers on the edges of the trade agendas of countries and corporations. These communities have been living on the sea in a sense and are almost forgotten by the state and the trading houses. They come together in a moving spirit of fraternity, gathering into their fold disparate cultures brought together by the sea and the exigencies of their livelihood. A series of works narrate these lives capturing their pathos and humour.
The exhibition is a continuation of the Museum’s curatorial series, ‘Engaging traditions’, which invites contemporary artists to engage with the Museum’s history and collection. Through the series, artists are invited to respond to the Museum’s collection, history and archives, addressing issues that speak directly to the traditions and issues that underlie the founding of the Museum, yet evoke the present by challenging orthodoxies and questioning assumptions.
Exhibition-making and cultural activity could be thought of as a form of relay or jujitsu, in which values and ideas can be transmitted, interrupted or used towards other ends. This seminar is an invitation to participate in an exploration and transmission exercise. A contemporary reminder, especially for Mumbai, in which our proximities, debts and fears of the seas should be thought of anew. The seminar will be preceded by an artists’ introduction to the exhibition, and a screening of From Gulf to Gulf to Gulf.
Welcome Address by Curator, Tasneem Zakaria Mehta
Session 1: Artists encounter Seafarers, Anthropologists and 30,000 bags of charcoal With Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran (CAMP) and Edward Simpson (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)
Session 2: The Sea of Historians
With Lakshmi Subramanian (Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata) and Renu Modi (Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai)
Session 3: In Response to the Exhibition
With Nancy Adajania (Independent Curator, Art Critic), Jesal Kapadia (Art, Culture and Technology, MIT) and Virchand Dharamsey (Archaeologist and Film Historian)
Panel Discussion: Artistic Research and its Horizons
With Nancy Adajania, Jesal Kapadia and CAMP
Panel Discussion: What Country are we in Anyway?
With Lakshmi Subramanian, Edward Simpson, Virchand Dharamsey and CAMP
Curatorial discussion, film screening and walk-through of the exhibition with the artists and Lawrence Liang.
Curatorial discussion, private film screening and walk-through of the exhibition with the artists, CAMP.
Open to all students interested in Art, Art history, and curation.
Limited seats, please register at education@bdlmuseum.org
Free and open to all tours of the exhibition in English, Hindi and Marathi were conducted by the Museum’s curatorial team every Saturday and Sunday
Take an interpretive guided tour of the exhibition and engage with the artists’ exploration of the maritime world in and around the western Indian Ocean through film and installations. Or book a workshop, get creative and imagine yourself as a sailor. Map your experiences as you travel the world – where would you sail, what would you see and, most importantly, what would you trade? Contact education@bdlmuseum.org to book a session or for more information.
The Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai City Museum seeks to serve the community as an Institution dedicated to excellence in cultural education through exhibitions and unique visual and intellectual media
An Institution of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. Supported by the Jamnalal Bajaj Foundation. Restored by INTACH, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage
Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum
Veermata Jijabai Bhosale Botanical Udyan and Zoo (Rani Baug),
91/A, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road,
Byculla East Mumbai 400027 India
T: +91 22 23741234
10:00 am - 5:30 pm
Closed on all Wednesdays and select public holidays.
