Ranjit Kandalgaonkar’s two-decade long documentation of the city, its informal ways, and jugaad become the subject of a complex exhibition in Kala Ghoda
A view of the work, cityinflux
For any daily user of the M-indicator app of the city’s suburban railway system, the chats can be a quirky, funny experience. Every once in a while, a message by a friendly commuter warning another about the location of a Ticket Collector on a certain station, will pop up.
This is the ‘invisible network’ that artist Ranjit Kandalgaonkar refers to when addressing the functioning of the city. Having lived in Mumbai all of his life, Kandalgaonkar began documenting these little observations of the city’s unspoken rules and the people living within those invisible lines. These find their way into his latest exhibition, cityinflux that opened for the Mumbai Gallery Weekend, earlier this month.
Ranjit Kandalgaonkar
“cityinflux is an endeavour to document the in-between spaces that appear as an aberrant to the norm, but in fact get legitimised due to the inability of the surroundings to linearise lost but recognisable markers defining the city fabric,” Kandalgaonkar writes.
City as muse
“It began as daily observations; made when going about your general work. I was interested in civic infrastructure as well as the local trains. When you engage with something over a long period of time, it keeps accruing. You begin to spot anything that aligns, or seems off, or peculiar,” he shares later, over a phone call.
Hygiene. Pics Courtesy/Ranjit Kandalgaonkar; Fulcrum
Tracked over a timeline of two decades, these aberrations begin to offer an insight into the subliminal structure that holds up the city, and its people. Take, for instance, the walls along railway stations, he observes. “To me, they are a parallel city running along the railway lines. It is not given importance, or even thought of as a true representation. Yet, floating populations, informal labour, gather to these walls,” the artist notes.
Between the lines
A view of the artwork, rush hour, depicting the crowded local train experience in the city
One work, Hygiene, captures the visuals of a boundary wall alongside Borivli railway station — Kandalgaonkar’s regular commute portal. “Over the years, I started observing a number of things like the barbers, or the trees that grow into them. It becomes a sign of the city’s change over the timeline,” he says. Or the piece, rush hour, an instantly recognisable emotion of the mass of people at a railway station turning into a conscious organism as they make their way into the arriving local train. The image of Raatraani is a momentous capture of an autorickshawwallah through the reflection of his rear view mirror.
Raatraani and Hsg.Soc.Pvt.Ltd
“The cover image is a man jumping between local trains. It was taken at Borivli station’s Foot Over Bridge (FOB). People do that often, as have I, at times. The identity of the city is revealed at this moment. These are the invisible networks that we align our lives around,” Kandalgaonkar observes.
These observations first found their way to the website, cityinflux.in, created in early 2009. Still functioning, it carries a tactile rawness that is different from the flashy modern-day portals. Gallerist Ayesha Agarwal adds, “We have seen so much change in the city over the last 20 years, and that is where Kandalgaonkar’s work becomes an important body of work that speaks to the changing and developing city.” With a follow-up exhibition coming up at the gallery in March, it looks like the city’s unspoken secrets are going to find their way to Kala Ghoda.
TILL February 14; 11 am to 7 pm
AT Fulcrum, 116/23, Great Western Buildings, Chamber of Commerce Street, Kala Ghoda
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