ARTEFACTING MUMBAI: by Alex White Mazzarella

Artefacting: the act of excavating, understanding and delivering untold stories and unchartered perspectives about a place and its’ people. An interaction and connection with a distant life and people by way of immersion and artistic recording. The transmission of a cross-cultural understanding that emerges over time, experience and contact. An artistic bridge leading into the other side. While none of these may actually be definitions, they were all visions and working objectives that lead us, an international team of artists, into India as the Artefacting Mumbai collective. Conceived of in 2009, I, a Brooklyn New York USA based artist and urbanist and Casey Nolan, an urban planning colleague and friend from Portland Oregon USA, would be joined by Dutch photographer Arne De Knegt and later local filmmakers Parasher Baruah and Nishant Nayak to put these ideas into a challenging context; Dharavi.

Dharavi Mumbai, often referred to as Asia’s largest slum, has a notorious reputation. The recent blockbuster “Slumdog Millionaire” used Dharavi as a nightmarish backdrop to stories of suffering and exploitation. But Dharavi has also been recorded and projected in a more positive light as an “industrious”, “entrepreneurial”, and “fascinating” place. A deeper look into some of the countless surveys and reports that have gone deeper into this “slum” reveal a place that we dare say, may even hold lessons for the west. A daunting, and potentially tragic assumption, but with a simple basis. Dharavi is a place where people come together to work alongside one another to better their lives. We set out to identify and communicate the existence of a social wealth in Dharavi. A social wealth beneficial to the individual, but created through a community; nearly opposite to that of the individualism of the West. And so in November of 2010, after months of project development and research, we arrived in Mumbai to put our theories to the test and learn who and what we’d be trying to connect ourselves with.

IMMERSION
Our immersion would begin with our local partner, the ACORN Foundation’s Dharavi Project. After bargaining our way down in price for wood sheets, we installed drawing panels into the recycling center. Soon after, our weekend mixed media art classes began with the ACORN kids, about 30 in total aged between 9 and 20. Little by little through communication and comfort in our new environment, our initial formalities were broken down. Naturally, we were becoming more and more personal with the children, and more and more understanding of who they were and how they were living. We began observing and conversing with the plastic sorters, bakery-wallas and barrel recyclers. The eclectic origins of migrant workers and family issues begun to come out, giving us a sense for our new neighbors situations… even if our backgrounds would limit how close we can/could get to their issues. And as we were inundated by the complexity and sheer activity density of Dharavi, we decided to focus on an intense but manageable area to the Northwest known as Sananuallah Compound, or the 13th Compound. Indeed a smaller manageable area would allow us to get deeper and more personal with the fabric of the community.

The “13th Compound” welcomed us with a topography of waste, the aggression of noise, burning fumes and the blank constant stares of hundreds of workers who originally labeled us as yet another “slum” tour. Our senses were under attack as we were perhaps overloaded by what surrounded us. The intensity and rigors of life here, and the strange disconnect between the warm energy of the people of Dharavi and their harsh environment. Finding ourselves numb and overwhelmed, it was clear that it would take us time, flexibility and change to fully understand and make sense out of where we were.

So while our initial entry into this place meant mapping/researching the people around us (their business operations, histories, and living situations) our immersion would slowly take us into an inquiry of what keeps these marginalized people together. Daily discussions, comparisons, connections and disconnections to western life and the modernization of Bombay would drive our thought process. And finally at the end of the first six weeks, all these observations, interviews, and disseminations would lead us to a group of findings; findings that would consequently feed the creative output of the Artefacting Mumbai collective and our actions over the remaining months. These findings were recorded as…

1) There is social wealth in an extreme context of survival; the Western idea of survival is one where no rules or social values exist…that it is every man for themselves. A notion where theft, fighting, disorder, and mayhem is the name of the game. Instead in Dharavi, we’ve found that the opposite is true. A social wealth exists in Dharavi’s 13th Compound because it allows individuals to meet and even exceed their survival needs.

2) Social cohesion is being embraced and encouraged instead of individual battling; cohesion is occurring across religions, migrant communities, and despite economic differences in extremely close proximity. There is respect for and even enforcement of common social standards that bridge and unite thousands of micro-communities that together form Dharavi. This is what keeps it from being the Western idea of a slum. As a result, there aren’t so many tensions to disrupt work and opportunity; people are brought together rather than separated and all together the community is stronger and more open.

3) I life vs. the collective; we are finding that the individual wealth celebrated in the West, which is being imported to Mumbai as a lifestyle, is actually isolating to the individual.
Collective living to the order of what we find in Dharavi is instead demanding of meaningful sharing and an understanding of one’s neighbor. Whereas in the West the individual image is the ultimate goal, here there exists a collective image that feels deeper rooted because it is actually connecting people to each other. The individual image instead seems to be connecting people to non-human relationships that can’t offer support and values.

4) Trust-based business and human systems; for better or worse, the myriad of different communities that coexist in Dharavi’s dense bubble leaves little room for hiding from one’s actions. In fact, the close-knit nature of the communities mandates trust that defies the notion of a slum. Valuable materials that are traded and sold are left outside instead of being locked up each night – something unheard of in the United States and Europe. Transactions are done on the base of honor and word instead of a formal legal system. People come to Dharavi for economic opportunities but this entrepreneurial spirit isn’t conducted at the expense of others, instead a mutual sense of well-being is embraced.

5) Creative expression breaks down barriers and cultivates understanding; given the language barriers and cultural gaps between our team and the ACORN community at 13th Compound, art and creative expression has been an intervention allowing for cross cultural understanding and new perspectives. Whereas otherwise there would be little reason or means for opening up and connecting with this community, art and creativity is bringing us closer. The ACORN community has been sensitizing and opening up to us via the activities and workshops that we are conducting. Conversely we have been learning about the community and gaining insight.
Our individual artwork and photography video were beginning to reflect these findings. From the initial experience of being an “outsider” in a hostile environment to becoming friends with locals, to actually feeling comfortable and welcomed in Dharavi, our work was also evolving into a reflection of our changing experience. Alex White Mazzarella’s “White Man Looking into Slum”, depicts a white silhouette as he looks out a window, over a gap, and towards a wall of deteriorating rusty barrels lying on the side of the road. Arne De Knegt’s “Dharavi Menswear Collection”, exhibits the work wear of Dharavi laborers in a stylized and aesthetically appealing European catalog format. “Computer Man”, by Alex White Mazzarella, Parasher Baruah and Nishant Nayak, is a short film of an aging computer man who is dumped out of a taxi into Dharavi perplexed and disoriented. Splashed by color he is re-sensitized, embracing the nature of a human-based recycling environment by giving himself up to be reborn via recycling.

And other work was focusing more on the depth of the local characters that were opening up to us. “ID Me Please”, filmed by Casey Nolan and Parasher Baruah is a collection of snapshot video interviews of the identities of locals; a ballerina shoemaker who teaches Salsa dancing lessons… a young photographer and his bold aspirations, and a stamp collector whose stamps and found postcards come together as a collection that spans the worlds continents and a recollection of old times. “Mechanics” and “Oysters”, paintings that look into cylindrical shaped oil drums to expose complexity and a range of local faces.

We were clearly beginning to find Dharavi more and more like any other place; our attention turned towards people conversing over lunch, people watching the scene on the corner, conducting business, and keeping an eye on the children. We too were now eating at the same Muslim dining establishment that we initially viewed and feared from afar.

INTERVENTIONS

After nearly two-months of working in and out of Dharavi, “Artefacting Mumbai” decided to begin intervening in our environment by producing murals and public paintings. Our work would bring forth color, exhibit forms of expression, and create proof of a tolerance and curiosity of the locals. Upon entering Dharavi, footbridge goers would now be met by a 10 meter long WELCOME over swatches of bright color. Not only would this serve as the WELCOME sign to our final exhibition, but it would really gauge how the public would receive us.

This mural was actually met with smiles and the content words of locals, across religions and local identities. So much was it accepted that we were approached with numerous requests to paint other murals. We would go on to paint another combined ten murals and business signage for the locals. An automobile pipe shop, bakery, chai shop and chicken centre all received makeovers to their facades, corrugated tin walls, or overhangings. Gloomy grays and dark shades were broken down with color, and a bit of direction and indication given to the activities and individuals lurking behind otherwise material walls.

THE 13TH COMPOUND EXHIBITION

On January 29th of 2010, Artefacting Mumbai’s culminating work, the “13th Compound Exhibition”, transformed the streets and industrial spaces of Dharavi into an art show. Hundreds of visitors from all over Mumbai and the world for that matter, entered Dharavi and what they found themselves confronted with was Dharavi; the slum that all had heard about but that most had not dared enter. Interviews with visitors revealed shock and surprise at what they found; adults correcting daring children, an absence of begging, a multitude of activity, and now the color we had spread throughout. The exhibition was as much an open house as an art show, with all artwork site specific, respectful of and even at times combining with the surroundings. Paintings were hung on stacked plastic barrels, aluminum walls and street corners, some made from waste in Dharavi. A second story sleep/storage space was turned into a gallery by simply hanging paintings on plastic drums awaiting recycling, and experimental video nestled into the clothing, cookware and sleeping pads of workers. Photographs were hung in a metal workshop, and by rope that stretched across a wall in a street filled with bags of plastic and rubber and a ground covered in squalid post-consumer waste. Peering into some recycling “go-downs” would reveal videos of and about Dharavi from Artefacting Mumbai’s perspective. And finally a large warehouse became home to a human sized Beehive installation created out of empty cardboard canisters filled with the sounds of bees and industrial noises. Two Beehives have since been installed permanently on some of our local collaborators roofs.

But as a result what really happened that day, was that this transformation, and the increased comfort levels that a crowd offers, had people looking at and into their surroundings. A decorated Dharavi was changing the perspective of how people saw it. Many more directly recognized the positivity that public art brings into a place.
As an intervention, exchange and celebration at once, the 13th Compound brought more foreigners into Dharavi at one time than ever before. And the public art, the murals and installations, continue to draw in viewers. Ravi and Deepak, close collaborators, friends and owners of a building we covered in artwork, report that even now, in mid March of 2011, they continue to receive increased visitors and tourists. The questions and ways in which they are questioning and perceiving their surroundings are apparently changing. Whereas the occasional tourist would pass through the area’s industrious bustle, people seem to now be taking their time and looking around at not just the work but the life that surrounds them. The hardship and intense struggle for life in Dharavi goes without question and doubt, and now its time that the other sides of these realities be viewed as well.

SHORT COMINGS AND NEXT STEP

There were certainly no shortage of challenges and difficulties that we experienced. Initially the intent was to get the local community involved and even inspired into making public art. While the children that partook in our art classes and some adults that witnessed our constant artistic production did respond through their own drawing and paintings, this did not occur in the form of public expression. Lacking the local languages did not help by any means, but we are hopeful that this can happen eventually should the project be maintained and continued on by other artists.

While Artefacting Mumbai was a success and has contributed to changing perspectives towards Dharavi and boosting the esteem of the community, this is indeed should be viewed as just a start. The ACORN Foundation has been left with the basic infrastructure (an art studio) and know how to continue the art classes. The local materials easily available in Dharavi, paper, plastics, metals and found objects in general, were explored as artistic mediums and particular students advanced significantly over the course of our project. Artefacting Mumbai with ACORN has begun to create an understanding that artistic expression can occur with any common material. It is now up to other artists to step in to continue to develop the skills, confidence and interest of the youth. Perhaps Sannualuah Compund will greet our return with some public art of their own.

Artefacting Mumbai: Exploring Social Wealth Through Art: by Casey Nolan

Artefacting reaches out to communities that are marginalized and disconnected from the rest of society and does so in a way that sparks reactions from both ends of the social spectrum. In the end, we are trying to go beyond the image of poverty by exploring the humanity that thrives in Dharavi. We also strive to bridge the gap between two worlds that are growing further and further apart through contemporary urbanization. Our tool to help bridge this gap is art, and we use art as a catalyst for social interactions. In Dharavi we orchestrated a variety of activities that we came to call “artistic interventions”: art classes, field trips, public murals, and exhibitions. Below is a snapshot of how we used these artistic interventions to explore Dharavi and introduce a frequently ignored community to an outside world that has always been hesitant to look beyond the train tracks.

ART CLASSES

The first phase of our immersion focused on connecting with the community in Dharavi’s industrial neighborhood known as the 13th Compound. The ACORN Foundation was instrumental to the project in that they provided us a workshop space in the heart of the 13th Compound and introduced us to the community. We quickly transformed the space into an art classroom and studio, and used it as headquarters for the remainder of our stay.

Before long we had a weekly art class with about 20 children from the ACORN community, which consists primarily of families in the rag-picking industry. Glitter, glue, markers without caps, cut up magazines… a monsoon of debris ensued after each session. Despite the chaotic nature of each session, the art classes were a great way to connect with the kids and were crucial in breaking down the massive cultural barriers between “us” and “them”.

In general, we incorporated items that are easily accessible to any child in Dharavi. The important thing was to convey the idea that art can be made from anything and does not have to be made with items purchased from an art supply store. We wanted to open the kids to a world of possibilities and did so by using found objects and everyday items. One day we went “ragpicking” for recyclables and used what we found in the class. For another class we collected used soda bottles, paper plates, and discarded plastic tubes to create a variety of unique “flowers”. It didn’t take long for the kids to embrace the idea as they quickly began cutting up plastic and paper to make a variety of unique flower petals. As soon as one flower was complete, its creator would proudly come over to me and ask for his or her photo to be taken with their flower. Smiles were plentiful that day as we then “planted” the flowers in the front of the workshop to help commemorate a new mural that we painted on the outside (with the help of ACORN members). [insert photos from art class with flowers]

In another class we divided the kids into five groups, each with their own piece of paper to draw on. We gave them crayons, markers, pencil, glue, scissors, magazines… the typical supply of crafts and materials that are regularly in the workshop. After everyone received their stash of supplies we asked them to draw their community and had our interpreter explain that we were very interested in Dharavi because of the community that exists there. From there we offered little direction as far as what “community” meant for that assignment; we let the kids imaginations run wild. The small teams diligently worked on their assignments. The group of girls (Sano, Sono, and Haseena), who are typically reserved and soft-spoken, really shined that day as their creative minds expressed what their neighborhood looks like from their perspective. The results were quite amazing and helped us to understand how the children see their neighborhood as well. [insert photos from Art Class #2]

One question began to haunt us: is art an appropriate medium to connect with people given the context of a place like Dharavi? We struggled with this, especially in the early weeks of the project. However, you do not need to spend significant time in Dharavi to realize that there are limited extracurricular activities for the kids that live there. I think back to my youth… soccer practice 5 days a week (games on weekends). Music, art and theater classes in school. Concerts during the week, camping on the weekend, biking to the pool in the summer and going sledding in the winter. This list, nor a culturally-adjusted similar one, simply isn’t available to a kid growing up in Dharavi.

Given the lack of creative outlets, our presence and the introduction of new views and modes of expression – which are drastically different from the norm –seemed to provide a refreshing change of pace for the community. In the end, we can most definitely say that YES, art was and is an appropriate medium to connect with people, perhaps especially when there is so little art happening to begin with.

ANISH KAPOOR FIELD TRIP

The most dynamic days with the kids were when we stepped out of the boundaries of the ACORN workshop and went on field trips. One such outing was to Mehboob Film Studios for the Anish Kapoor exhibition. Kapoor was born in India and moved to London in the early 70s for art school and has been based there ever since; he is now one of the world’s most influential sculptors. The show at Mehboob Studios was his first exhibition in India and happened to coincide with the timing for Artefacting Mumbai.

So with 20 kids and ACORN’s committee members, we walked hand-in-hand from Dharavi to the Kapoor’s Mehboob Studios exhibition in Bandra. As mentioned above, cultural opportunities do not come along often for this group of children, which made even more impressive how well behaved they were in the midst of the strange playground of artistic oddities.

It is no surprise that they had a fantastic experience at the exhibition. The massive space is filled with oversized mirrors that distort both the object in it and the background - turning the already surreal space into something from another world. With equal parts circus-fun-house and contemporary-art-gallery, the kids took in the exhibition with all the joy and wonderment you can imagine. Bursts of giggles and smiles that stretched from ear to ear filled the space just as beautifully as the massive art pieces. Being there to see their reactions to such a strange environment was priceless, and I’m still left wondering who “got more” out of the whole field trip - the kids or us just watching their amazement. [insert photos of kids at Kapoor exhibition]

In a bizarre stroke of coincidence and/or serendipity, we stumbled across a unique find upon our return to Dharavi: discarded canisters from Shooting Into The Corner - a central piece of the Anish Kapoor exhibition we had just experienced! For that particular piece, a canister of red wax is shot from a cannon onto a white wall every 12 minutes, constantly evolving the sculpture with each shot. 60 of these thick paper shells were used each day and many of the canisters made their way from one of the world’s most premier contemporary artists to the “slum” streets of Dharavi. Given that “disconnect” is a theme for Artefacting Mumbai, we were certainly taken aback by the discovery of the canisters in Dharavi and spent many hours trying to make sense of the vast gap between the Anish Kapoor exhibition and Dharavi’s 13th Compound.

With recycling being a central theme in both our project and the 13th Compound, we arranged to have a shipment of the discarded shells set aside for us to include in our exhibition in Dharavi. The shells were recycled into three large installations that we call Beehive; two of the three Beehives were built on rooftops in Dharavi and left behind for local residents and visitors to ponder. [insert beehive photo]

MURAL MODE

As relationships grew and we become more accepted by locals, we moved our artistic interventions out into the public sphere. Suddenly we were not in the isolation of our workshop – sheltered from the critiques and reactions of the community at large. It was time to push the envelope and see if art could really help us learn about Dharavi.

One of the first public interventions we did was a giant Welcome sign on an easily seen building on Dharavi’s periphery. The mural seemed like the perfect way to greet people as they enter Dharavi and would serve us well for the exhibition; it also proved to be a test to see how the public responded to us “outsiders” painting their walls. In many ways, the Welcome mural was a test to see how the rest of our stay in Dharavi would unfold.

On any given day we drew attention in Dharavi. Throw in a couple of ladders, 5 gallons of paint, and 10 hours of painting on Dharavi Main Road and the level of attention rapidly grows. There was no getting around the fact that we were causing a scene while painting the Welcome sign, which is highly visible to everyone entering Dharavi from the west side. Fortunately, the mural was received very well by the community. Immediately after we finished painting Welcome, we had numerous requests to paint other walls. Perhaps the best testimony was when a local business owner exuberantly said to us “Paint all of Dharavi!” Having shifted more into a production and management mode in order to prepare for the final exhibition, the mural was a great way to plug into the larger community and continue to stir things up in Dharavi.

Based on the positive response to the Welcome mural, we took advantage of the opportunity and shifted gears into Mural Mode – which could also be said to be a series of artistic interventions with the local people. Mural Mode provided us with a renewed sense of energy and pushed us to make the most of our remaining precious days. A major manifestation of this energy took shape in a series of bright and colorful murals that literally transformed the visual landscape of the already surreal 13th Compound neighborhood in Dharavi. [insert photos of murals]

Mentally and physically exhausting, time consuming, and comical can all be used to describe some of our experiences while preparing and executing the many murals that now adorn the walls throughout the 13th Compound. These include the facelift to the ACORN community center, the Welcome sign at a key entry point into Dharavi, The White Meets the Black in Dharavi, a number of smaller murals that double as business signs for local shops, and a surreal fantasy area that we affectionately refer to as the Peter Pan murals. In each and every case, we doubled as entertainment for many local residents who found it amusing that we were painting their walls. Moreover, in each and every case we connected with the community a little bit more.

With each additional mural the number of people that recognized us grew - we couldn’t walk down a street in the 13th Compound without people shouting our names and exclaiming “Welcome!” or shouting “Paint! Nice!” The list of people quickly grew that wanted us to paint their homes or businesses - a testament to not just our work but more importantly the people of Dharavi embracing our presence and the project. In the long run, perhaps the new visual landscape will have another effect on Dharavi as tourists stop coming to Dharavi to see poverty and instead come to see art - art inspired by the people that live here!

13th COMPOUND EXHIBITION

Three months of immersion, exploration, and interaction led up to one culminating event: The 13th Compound multi-media exhibition. Held as a walking tour in Dharavi’s 13th Compound, we promoted the area as Mumbai’s newest art gallery district – if only for one day and night. Visitors and locals could meander around to 16 different industrial warehouses and living spaces to see anything from mixed media paintings to fashion type photography shot in Dharavi, videos celebrating the joy of life in Dharavi to built installations that incorporated recycled items from the neighborhood.

The exhibition only lasted 6 hours, but we couldn’t have asked for a better turnout and a better reaction. Having the exhibition IN Dharavi, IN actual working spaces and in the streets of “our” neighborhood created a live element that pushed the experience over the top and provided the context that we were looking for. Our best guess is that 400 or more people showed up to see what was happening in Dharavi that day.

Going back to one of our initial goals of bridging the gap between two worlds that are growing further and further apart – the 13th Compound exhibition proved to be the perfect tool to achieve this goal. We certainly succeeded in “giving a face” to the marginalized community and dispelled a lot of fears and misconceptions about Dharavi. Many people saw Dharavi for the first time and were blown away by what they saw, and that’s not meant in the artistic context. More importantly, they were blown away by the number of happy children they saw playing in the streets, and the families working together to survive while still exuding a sense of joy for life. The exhibition ended up being an open house for the residents of Dharavi to show other “outsiders” what the real Dharavi is like – not the “Slumdog Millionaire Dharavi.” People found the humanity in Dharavi on that day and because of that we couldn’t be more pleased with the results of the project.

Undoubtedly, there are some people in the 13th Compound that either didn’t understand what we were doing, or whom we just didn’t reach in during our outreaches and communication efforts. That’s simply reality given the high density of the area and the massive communication and cultural barriers that exits. Despite these minor setbacks, I can’t help but think that even the skeptics find some enjoyment in what we left behind.