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Mumbai: Exhibition reveals how pavement dwellers express though art

Updated on: 21 September,2017 08:19 PM IST  |  Mumbai
Krutika Behrawala |

An exhibition reveals how pavement dwellers express through art; how their condition in the monsoon is only worsened by lawless evictions

Mumbai: Exhibition reveals how pavement dwellers express though art

Sajjan Kharwa at a painting workshop held at Pehchan’s office in TardeoSajjan Kharwa at a painting workshop held at Pehchan's office in Tardeo


Crayons and paints lay strewn in a tarpaulin tent on the pavement at Bodyguard Lane in Tardeo. They belong to 15-year-old Sajjan Kharwa, a Class 8 student, who has cleared Maharashtra State Board's Elementary Grade Drawing Examination. His favourite pastime is observing his mother sell old clothes on the pavement and depicting it on a sheet of paper.


Brijesh Arya, founder, PehchanBrijesh Arya, founder, Pehchan


Roughly 20 minutes away is Aakash Gaikwad, who lives with his family on a pavement settlement near JJ Hospital. In his free time, the 12-year-old sketches the dichotomy that exists in his neighbourhood, as cars zoom past women cooking on the footpath.

One of Kharwa's artworks that will be displayed at the exhibition at Tata Institute of Social Sciences

Tomorrow evening, between 6 pm and 8 pm, you can check out their artworks as part of an exhibition titled, This Is Where I Live, to be held at Tata Institute of Social Sciences' (TISS) campus in Deonar. They will share space with 14 other paintings created by members of the unhoused communities living inLondon,New YorkandBerlin. It has been curated by four organisations –Fresh Art inNew York,Berlin's Gitschiner 15, Café Art inLondonand Pehchan, a non-profit that works towards empowering the homeless in Mumbai.

A drawing titled Home by Aakash Gaikwad, a Std 8 student who lives with his family near JJ Hospital

One of the biggest challenges, says the NGO founder Brijesh Arya, was finding artists from the marginalised community. "We felt women would be willing to participate but they found it difficult to even hold a crayon or pencil. So, we conducted three workshops with over a dozen children to gauge their skills, and selected five, whose works could match up to international standards," he adds.

Women from the unhoused community seen in the documentary
Women from the unhoused community seen in the documentary 'Kapda, Kamra, Aur Kachra'

Alongside the exhibition, TISS' School of Mediaand Cultural Studies (SMCS) in collaboration with Pehchan will host a panel discussion that focuses on the rights of the unhoused community in Mumbai and questions the limited access they have to space and resources.

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