We are happy to note that good friend of Parsi Khabar, Aspi H. Patel will be exhibiting his photographs at the famous Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai next week

‘ARCHITECTURE BEYOND PLATITUDE’

Photographic Images through Line, Form, Texture and Colour

Fine art photographer Aspi H. Patel displays his work at Jehangir Terrace Art Gallery, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai 400001 from 21^st to 27^th October 2014.

His experiment with the Black & White Transparency film, on his first visit to New York in 2004, lead him to this refreshingly different and unusual perspective to Architectural Photography, whereby he has emphasized on design, pattern and forms. This show is a part of a collection of images taken during a period of ten years.

He has been a prolific Salon exhibitor in pictorial photography and has over 700 acceptances and various awards and certificates of merit, including UNESCO prize in 1989. He has following Honors to his credit:

(I) ‘Associateship’ of The Photographic Society of India, Mumbai, (APSI) in the year 1985.

(ii) ‘Associateship’ of India International Photographic Council, New Delhi, (AIIPC) in the year 1986.

(iii) He is also recognized and conferred Honors as ‘Artist. FIAP’ (A.FIAP) by The Federation Internationale De La Art of Photographique, Belgium, for his excellence in pictorial color Transparencies, in the year 1996.

(iv) Recently he was conferred honorary membership of The Photographic Society of India, Mumbai, in January 2012.

He held his first show “Gorgeous Trappings” at this very prestigious gallery in 1990.

A naturalist by heart, he has spent his entire life capturing in his heart and camera various shades of life.   Photography is a passion with him.

He is a prolific salon exhibitor and has over 700 Acceptances and various Awards and Certificates of Merit in National and International exhibitions of photography, including an Asian Cultural Centre for UNESCO prize in 1989. He has also served on the Panel of Jury for many National and International Salons / Exhibitions.

He held his first Show ‘Gorgeous Trappings’ at the prestigious Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai in 1990.

He has dedicatedly worked on the managing commiee of The Photographic Society of India, Mumbai, for 15 years in various capacies including that of a Treasurer, Jt. Hon. Secretary and Vice President.

He has also given slide shows and lectured at the above instute, which is one of the oldest and largest sociees of its kind in India. Some of his arcles have also been published in various club newsletters. He has occasionally also conducted  Basic  Comprehensive  Course  in  Photography.

Currently he is a freelance photographer.

The post Architecture Beyond Platitude: Exhibition of Photography by Aspi Patel appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Catch the last day of photographer Aspi Patel’s show, Architecture Beyond Platitude, at the Jehangir Art Gallery, where he captures graphical patterns in architecture from across the world

Article By Hassan M Kamal | Mid-Day

Led by a strong desire to look for the extraordinary in the ordinary, 63-year-old photographer Aspi Patel has created a set of visuals that establishes why it’s important to look at architecture as more than just a cluster of mortar and steel.

Some of the photographs that capture architecture from across the world

Titled Architecture Beyond Platitude, the show offers a collection of photographs, which Patel clicked over a period of 10 years during his travels across the world; featuring cities like New York, Washington DC, Sydney, Manhattan, Melbourne, and Mumbai. “It was Manhattan that inspired me,” says Patel, who begun exploring photography only after his marriage. “My agency wanted me to try black-and-white transparencies, so I went out capturing the Manhattan skyline. The result was amazing.”

Photographer Aspi Patel

But unlike the start, the exhibition was never an accident, emphasises Patel, adding that after Manhattan, he went around the world capturing an extraordinary aspect of buildings. “The idea was always there — that I wanted to show architecture in a certain way. So whenever I have been travelling, I always look for ‘that’ picture. It’s always there at the back of

my mind.”

The works on display will marvel the onlookers, especially, with how line, form, texture and colour play with light and shadow to create strong impressions — on the canvas as well as on the onlooker. Patel stresses that the idea running across this exhibition was to find graphical patterns in architecture. “I believe that architecture should be presented in a way where buildings convey as well as generate a strong emotional response from the onlookers. That’s the whole purpose of fine art photography.”

More often, these emotions were born out of instincts. “I follow my instincts. If I see something, and my heart tells me I should capture it, I take that picture. I shoot by my heart,” says Patel.

The works, showing at the Jehangir Art Gallery (Terrace) is the only the second exhibition of Patel, the first was in 1990 (also at the Jehangir Art Gallery ), where he showcased his photographs of trees with his friend Cyrus Rao. Few years after that exhibition, Patel, who was handling the family business at the time, sold everything to focus on photography.

His works got him admiration at home and internationally, but he never made photography his career, and still refers to himself as a hobbyist. “When you work commercially, you have 10 different people telling you what they want.

I find that very limiting. Here, as a hobbyist, I am free to shoot anything,” he says, adding, that he takes a few photography and event assignments every now and then, so as to be able to buy new camera equipment. “As you would know, photography is a really expensive hobby,” he signs off.

The post Buildings through the veteran lens appeared on Parsi Khabar.

One rainy fall evening in Brooklyn, two women walk out onto a small stage and stare at the audience. They stand in comfortable silence for several minutes – until the short-haired woman in the blue and white kurta begins to talk.

Author: Meera Nair

At her boarding school in Connecticut, she says, three of her suitemates held her down on the bathroom floor, and then proceeded to shave her arms and legs with a razor. They left her cut and bleeding on the tiles. She was 13.

Several members of the audience noticeably gasp.

On stage, the other woman does not react. She watches her fellow presenter, absorbs her words without comment, lets the silence expand.

The two actors are Monsoon Bissell and Benaifer Bhadha. And in Two Women Talking, they are playing roles they have trained for all their lives – themselves.

Photo Credit: Two Women Talking

Piercing stories

For 75 minutes, we watch and listen as they roam across the landscapes of their lives spent in Mumbai, Hartford, London, New York, trading stories in a messy chronology. The stories are often harrowing, jagged with feeling, but the women inhabit them fully, letting the memories subsume them. “I try to hold my mother’s hand, she pulls away, I try to hold my mother’s hand, she pulls away,” Bhadha repeats in a small, bewildered voice, her feet twisting into the pigeon-toed stance of a child.

These stories are not safe for work – or for the drawing room for that matter. There are secrets here, the gut-twisting anxieties and toxic self-loathing that we try not to think about. In one story, Bhadha rages in the bathroom, her hands twisting the roll of flesh at her waist as she shouts “I hate you, I hate you” at her image in the mirror. About to undergo an operation, Bissell begs her doctor: “Can I keep my nipples? I like my nipples.”

Every story cuts deep, all the more potent because it is true. What makes the performance astounding is that it is not a performance – not in the usual sense. This is semi-scripted storytelling, live, improvised every evening. We are watching minimalist theatre, drama pared down to its essence, intimate, unsparingly human. On display are fraught encounters with memory, sparked in the moment. The audience, recast as witnesses, are invited to listen, even if the illicit thrill of eavesdropping on secrets feels uncomfortable. As Bissell explains, “The listening shapes the telling, and the telling shapes the listening.”

Nowadays, distracted by our devices and schedules, we have forgotten how to listen. On stage, the actors revive this lost art. No one rushes to fill pauses in the monologues with advice or opinions. As one speaks, the other listens, never breaking eye contact.

Indian bond

When they talk, their stories shimmer with startling details. The critic James Wood’s phrase, “better noticers of life”, comes to mind. I feel the straight backs of chairs in prissy boarding schools against my neck, smell the camphor in the depths of Bissell’s grandfather’s closet. When Bhadha describes her substance abuse, I feel the dry scrape of the pills in my throat.

Then there is India. The country binds the women together, and it is everywhere. In stories of cosy afternoons spent with tea and steaming samosas in the company of large, loving families, as well as in the darker encounters with a culture, where, as Bissell tells me later, “girls are often told to shut up”. When they stray from culturally expected ways, there is a price to pay in guilt, in strained relationships. When Bissell comes out as a lesbian, her mother shuts her down and turns away, refuses to acknowledge or engage with her daughter’s sexuality.

But, as Bissell says, “These are stories that no one tells, but need to be told.”

Raw connections

Watching these stories spill out, it is easy to believe that Bissell and Bhadha are old friends, performing a comfortable friendship. At one point, Bhadha says, “I have never had a relationship like this.” Watching the women interact, that sentiment is not hard to believe – not even when we learn that they met for the first time only a year ago. By the time they started, under Dan Milne’s sympathetic, unobtrusive direction, to ready the piece for the stage, they had spent weeks in Manhattan coffee shops, telling each other stories.

Even after a year, there are surprises. Twice in the evening, Bissell exclaims: “Benaifer, you never told that story before.”

Like the stories, the relationship comes under scrutiny too. In a particularly tense moment, Bhadha accuses Bissell of hurting her, dismissing her as “not being Indian enough”. In one of the most moving moments of the play, Bissell struggles to apologise, at one point asking Bhadha: “Are you going to help me out here?” When she refuses, Bissell stumbles on alone. We watch the relationship evolve, experience their struggle to accept each other, warts and all.

The yearning to connect fully with another is one we all recognise. Yet the openness with which these actors deal with each other is almost painful.

Still, this is precisely why Two Women Talking succeeds. It urges audiences to reengage with listening. The reactions of the audience, their gasps of shock or laughter affect the telling. The safer the actors feel, the more they are willing to reveal.

What of audiences who might be more judgemental? Who might not approve of family laundry being so publicly aired? Would they ever take this show to India, I ask.

Bhadha concedes it might be difficult, that she is not sure if audiences in India are ready. She has already told the story about how her mother refuses to see the show or even acknowledge her success-even though she lives a few hours away. Bissell is more hopeful: “More than any place else, India needs to have two women who are clearly whole and healed tell stories.”

“There is power in two women talking,” she says.

The post Two Women Talking: Tales From India That Need To Be Told appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal, an actress of repute and the power behind the wildly successful Vagina Monologues in India; speaks candidly at a recent event in Mumbai.

For the second guest of the day in this session of Jam with Sam, we have the indomitable Mahabanoo Mody-kotwal.
A prolific actor, director and producer in theater, film and radio, she’s also a microbiologist and a change agent who’s highly passionate about women empowerment.

Mahabanoo was chosen as one of the 50 most powerful women in India and one of 200 most inspirational women in the world. She runs her own production company “poor box productions”, has acted in Bollywood films such as “Black”, graced countless magazine covers and made the highly renowned and extremely popular vagina monologues.

Roots
Coming from a family of doctors, she got a double degree in microbiology and geology from St.Xavier’s college but had no aspirations to be a doctor herself. She went on to work with the man who made crest toothpaste but realized her calling was in theatre.

Vagina Monologues
One day she watched the play vagina monologues abroad after hearing about it from her son, and was blown away by it. She wanted to bring it to India and discussed with Eve Ensler about it, eventually becoming a good friend of hers.

But she did encounter problems with actors and producers, but fortunately never with censorship except by theatres themselves, so decided to invest in the production on her own before she found a terrific set of actors and rest, with over 1000 shows including Hindi version till date, as they say is history.

They’ve been able to give away more than 1 crore through fundraisers through the play, with more men coming to see it these days.
The feud with Alyque Padamsee was touched upon even though she insisted she had no problems, but only felt it was ill timed and badly written. Her cheeky answer to media at that time for the latter’s failure was ” The penis has to flop sometime”

Movie time
Her first movie was set in London, about a boy with brittle bones called ” sixth happiness” where they had got the real life kid to play the protagonist. Her second movie was “Black”.
She loves Rock Hudson and Paul Newman as well as admiring Amitabh Bachchan who stands out amongst everyone else.
Theater
She feels theater has changed a lot with audience being more receptive although she dislikes the experimental stuff of the new age. She loves Marathi plays and told a story about how tendulkar was scared to translate vagina monologues in Marathi due to the fear of a political party.
Quick gun Sam
A new and exciting part of the show had Sam asking the guests their first reactions to specific words with Mahabanoo answering the following.
Money – Lovely
Men – Nice
Bollywood – No comments
India – Hopeless
Mumbai – More hopeless
Politics – Bullshit
Karan Johar – Love him

Personal
Mahabanoo feels social media can be a great instrument for social change and elucidated an incident where a show for 300 underprivileged children and women was sponsored by strangers from social networks.
She spends her time alone, is socially autistic, loves elephants for their human quality and is against hunting for sport. She’s also a big advocate of NOTA and hopes more people will vote for it to bring a change.
She also said that being alone helped bring about a big change in her life views and overcoming her fears.

Women in India
Mahabanoo feels India is the worst state for women, with us being a misogynistic society, and like a famous oriya writer after watching her play said, it will take more than 100 years to change the mindset. She is trying her best to bring awareness on it and told a heart wrenching story about a woman who escaped an abusive relationship after watching the vagina monologues, which made her really proud.
She feels laws and their implementation have been useless and feels it to be insult to compare ourselves to Arab and African nations.

She’s against the rehabilitation of juvenile rapists, feeling that if they’re old enough to rape, they’re old enough to face the gong and supports death penalty of rapists and murderers. She recited the following poem.

A woman stood at the heavenly gates,
Her face was scarred and old.
She stood before the man of fate
for admission to the fold.
“What have you done,” St Peter asked,
“To gain admission here?”
“I’ve lived in India, sir,” she said,
“For many and many a year.”
The pearly gates swung open wide,
St Peter touched the bell.
“Come in and choose your harp,” he
said. “You’ve had your share of hell!”

What’s ahead

She’s working on new play called emotional creatures, a series of life stories about women around the world and another dark tale about the catholic church apart from her work for social causes and women empowerment.

The post Mahabanoo Mody-Kotwal: In Conversation appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Bring up the rare

A forthcoming show of rare collectibles, curated by art historian Dilnavaz Mehta, is a lesson on India’s lesser-known stories

By Reema Gehi | PuneMirror

Art historian Dilnavaz Mehta, who has previously curated seven exhibitions of uncommon collectibles tracing India’s splendid history, is in the process of putting together a new edition of Rare Finds – Hindoostan Revisited that will be on view at Cymroza Art Gallery, Bhulabhai Desai Road, Mumbai, from December 3 to 9. “The idea behind displaying them is to spread awareness and educate the public at large about our history,” says Mehta, as she offers a glimpse into her collection comprising prints, old maps, rare books and advertisements (many of them are of companies, products and stores, which used to or continue to exist in the city).

1. VIEW FROM MALABAR HILL, ON THE ISLAND OF BOMBAY, 1834
The coloured engraving by James Forbes shows the town, and harbour of Bombay, connected with Colaba (or Old Woman’s Island). Beyond the harbour and shipping are the Island of Caranjah, and the high land on the continent. The nearer landscape represents Bombay, consisting chiefly of cocoanut woods and rice fields, interspersed with English villas and plantations. In this image, we can also see two bungalows, one, the Retreat, and the other, Tankaville (on the borders of a tank of fresh water) near Malabar Hill. On the right is the Tower of Silence.

2. MADRAS, 1867
British artist William Simpson’s chromolithograph shows the line of customs and port authority buildings located north of Fort St George on the beach. Before the construction of an artificial harbour in the late 19th century, goods and passengers would land on the beach. They were transported through the high running surf by the native masula boats (non rigid craft made of planks lashed together with coir ropes).

3. FESTIVAL OF GODDESS DURGA AT CALCUTTA, 1858
Russian Prince Alexis Soltykoff’s coloured and tinted lithograph depicts Calcutta’s vibrant Durga puja. The idol of the goddess is in a corner and the activities being enacted by the natives are drawn in detail. The artist has depicted musicians and their instruments, the onlookers, the lamps hanging from the ceiling with the swinging fan dominating the picture and the presence of Europeans.

4. MAPS, 1592 (TOP) AND 1715 (BELOW)
On the top is an unusual map, by cartographer Sebastian Munster. The traditional classical world is surrounded by clouds and twelve wind heads; with their Latin names inscribed on banners. The continents have unexpected shapes and are all connected by a great southern continent, Terra Incognito Secundum Ptolemaeum. The map below by bookseller and printer Renard (a suspected spy for the British monarchy in Amsterdam), on the other hand, represents the world as a single sphere seen on a north polar projection. The sphere is held on the shoulders of the Greek mythology hero, Atlas. California is shown as an island and the continent of Australia is not depicted accurately.

5. TATA’S EAU DE COLONGE
The painting shown in the advertisement (1948) is by the modern painter K H Ara. In fact, the fine print of this promotional feature of the eau-de-cologne, popular amongst the Parsi community, reads, “Oil painting by Ara illustrates the charm which the work of this energetic young Indian painter so often displays.”

6. K D & BROTHERS
This advertisement, published in 1921, suggests that K D & Brothers were the biggest film producing concern in India at that time. The advertisement contains publicity portraits of actresses of yore such as Pearl White, Theda Bara, and Corinne Griffith.

7. DUNLOP RUBBER COMPANY (DUNLOP TYRES)
This 1921 advertisement shows a game of polo on probably the Bombay Gymkhana grounds with Mr Dunlop (in a white beard) leaning against a fine car fitted with Dunlop tyres and driven by an Indian.

The post Dilnavaz Mehta: Bring Up The Rare appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Tally Beck Contemporary will present a group exhibition of contemporary works that incorporate calligraphy from Iran. Animating the Word: The Legacy of Iran’s Minority Calligraphic Traditions will open on Wednesday, December 10 and run until December 30. The opening reception on December 10 will begin at 6:00 pm and run until 9:00 pm.

While Persian calligraphy and artwork is more familiar to most audiences, there are other rich traditions of calligraphy in the minority cultures of Iran. These traditions have inspired a genre of contemporary art that incorporates the written languages and enriches the visual expression of these peoples.

Zoroastrian work by Kourosh Vafadari

For this exhibition, Tally Beck Contemporary will be exhibiting work by Ani Babaian (Armenian), Hannibal Alkhas (Assyrian), Solayman Sassoon (Jewish), Siamak Jamshidizadeh, Pooneh Oshidari, and Kourosh Vafadari (Zoroastrian).

Inspirational concept for this unique show of calligraphy from Iran comes from Richard N. Frye (1920-2014), the first holder of the Aga Khan Professorship in Iranian Studies at Harvard University. Richard Frye, an enthusiastic language learner, enjoyed rendering short Persian poems in his elegant hand. He also had a deep appreciation of minority languages of Iran and the Middle East, including those represented in this show as well as others written in modified forms of the Arabic alphabet. This show is dedicated to his memory.

Animating the Word

The Legacy of Iran’s Minority Calligraphic Traditions

December 10 – 30, 2014 – New York

Iran, like other geographic state entities formed on the basis of colonial negotiations in the 19th century, contains several significant historically indigenous religious groups: Zoroastrians, Jews, Assyrians and Armenians. These four groups each have distinctive orthographic traditions bound to their religious traditions and ethnic linguistic heritage.

A land that has come to represent the rise of Islamic governance during the late 20th century, nonetheless the Islamic Republic of Iran has continued a measure of the recognition of the presence of its historic non-Muslim minorities through its constitution, revised in 1980 under more restrictive interpretation than when the country first adopted a constitution in 1908.

First the Zoroastrian community, then the Jewish and Assyrian, have long roots in Iranian culture dating to the original Imperial Iran of the Achaemenids. The well-documented Armenian displacement from the Transcaucasian region of Julfa to the Isphahan of the Safavids during the 16th century marked a period of growth and influence for this community that has continued to mark it as the significant indigenous Christian presence in the country.

Despite the decline of minorities in the demographic percentage of the IRI total population in the years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, their continued representation in the national legislature (Majlis), their private schools and cultural associations, in Tehran in particular, allow maintenance of language and culture. Acculturated to Persian through the compulsory public educational system since 1928, bilingualism among Assyrians and Armenians is widespread. The religious language of Zoroastrians (Avestan, a Middle Iranian language) and of the Jews (Hebrew), has long become Persian with the exception of the Aramaic speaking Jewish communities living in the eastern Zagros towns from Sanandaj to Urmiah. The Jews of Iran (known as Kalimi) when they wrote Persian used the Hebrew alphabet as did the Aramaic speaking Jews.

Religious orthographies, thus, enjoy extensive usage within these four communities. The strong calligraphic of Persian, written in a modified Arabic alphabet since the early Islamic period, influenced these orthographies in two important ways: an appreciation of stylized calligraphy and the incorporation of calligraphy into manuscripts that has translated into calligraphy as an integral part of contemporary art.

-Dr. Eden Naby

http://tallybeckcontemporary.com/

The post Animating The Word: Legacy of Iran’s Minority Calligraphic Traditions. appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Having already set the standard in terms of artistic beauty, the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport’s (CSIA) T2 terminal is now undergoing the completion of its ‘art museum’ on the walls, set to be opened by second half of this year.

Article by Shahkar Abidi | DNA

The remaining space constitutes about 70 per cent of the wall. Airport operator officials claimed that the art work will focus on the culture of the bye-gone eras, including the Parsi proscenium theatre curtains of Mumbai, with their rich repertoire of street fascias and portals. The old Parsi style proscenium theater went into oblivion after the arrival and popularization of cinema in India. Parsi theatre companies, which were largely owned by the Parsi business community during 1850-1930s, were a very popular form of entertainment in the Bombay Presidency region of western India and few parts of North India.

“The renowned Parsi proscenium theater curtains of Mumbai will add a layer of whimsy with three dimensional sections of stone facades and jharokhas,” said an airport insider.

The Jay He website, operated by CSIA, states, “The manifestation of India’s many faceted talents, the wall includes interactive media elements. Faces of visitors gazing at the fascias are projected onto the built forms, making the observer. The observed shutter opens up occasionally to reveal the world within while faces keep changing in response to the audience highlighting the vulnerable existence of these fast disappearing heritage building.”

Apart from that, artist Anjolie Menon and Robyn Beeche interpret the door as face of the house by juxtaposing several portraits into a unified whole.

Once complete, the art wall will have nearly 7,000 artifacts, which over 1,500 artists toiled to complete. The design and planning team is lead by Rajeev Sethi, one of country’s leading curators and scenographers, who spent over four and half years to curate the work.

The post Bombay Airport’s Terminal 2 Art Wall To Depict Parsi-Style Theatre appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The celebrated contemporary dancer’s performance was part of the One World Retreat, a three-day event to promote the cause of the Indian Head Injury Foundation.

Astad Deboo, the celebrated contemporary dancer and choreographer, took the audience’s breath away when he twirled on the parapet of the historic Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur during a fundraiser for the Indian Head Injury Foundation last week.

“The event was to raise funds for the head injury foundation and here I was doing some dance moves on a narrow parapet 30 feet high,” laughs Deboo, the pioneer of modern dance in India, who is not new to dancing on heights.

To the relief of the audience, he subsequently glided down the parapet and continued with his performance on the terrace of the beautifully lit fort..

Deboo was part of the One World Retreat, a three-day event to promote the cause of the Indian Head Injury Foundation. In 2005, Maharaja Gaj Singh’s son, Yuvraj Shiv Raj Singh, suffered a serious head injury after a polo accident and continues his recovery.

Maharaja Gaj Singh of Jodhpur launched the IHIF after his son’s accident to spread awareness and gather resources for those suffering from brain injury.

Other performers at the event included a poetry recital by movie superstar Amitabh Bachchan, the Shillong Choir with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Eton Choir (the alma mater of both Maharaja Gaj Singh and his son), fashion shows by J J Valaya and Raghavendra Rathore, who is the maharaja’s nephew. A talk by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev and discussions with doctors on head injuries and road safety.

The post When Astad Deboo Made A Fort Dance appeared on Parsi Khabar.

At a Harvard talk, Jimmy Engineer talks about the various aspects of his life, as an artist, social worker, human rights and peace activist

Article by Beena Sarwar | The News On Sunday

“There is a long list of people who are activists and who take up causes who get killed. It’s an endless list, and it’s a senseless list,” says Jimmy Engineer.

I’m talking to this Pakistani artist and philanthropist on the phone, having him met a few times in the Boston area. Based in Karachi, he’s visiting the USA, currently in Houston where his parents live. I’ve called to ask if he heard about the murder of activist-entrepreneur Sabeen Mahmud in Karachi.

He puts the tragedy in perspective as part of the perennial struggle between good and evil. “There will always be those who try to improve things and raise a voice to create awareness. There will always be those who want to destroy them. This happens everywhere in the world. Nature also takes its toll. Along with all the positive, there’s always a negative, like the Nepal earthquake.”

Sabeen herself well understood herself and exemplified this philosophy, accepting that negativity and evil exist but yet continuing to strive to do what is possible on a personal level. Life is a never-ending struggle and we each need to do what we can.

I knew little about Jimmy Engineer except that he is an artist who does charity work and walks for causes. I learnt more about this tall, soft-spoken, somewhat enigmatic figure with a greying beard at a talk he gave at the Harvard Graduate School of Education a couple of weeks ago. His host, expatriate Pakistani businessman Masood Shaikh, moderated the talk, saying he wants to spread the goodness, the positive image of Pakistan that Jimmy Engineer represents.

The website www.jimmyengineer.com tells us that he has made over 2,000 original paintings, 1,000 calligraphies and 350,000 prints, many in private collections in over 50 countries. His most famous series are the ones on Partition, Allama Iqbal and architecture. Jimmy Engineer has held more than 60 art exhibitions, led over 100 walks for noble causes and arranged more than 140 awareness programmes for handicapped, blind and orphaned children.

None of this prepares you for the quiet aura of peace Jimmy Engineer emanates, or for his complex simplicity. He terms himself as “a servant of the people and of Pakistan”.

At the Harvard talk, he spoke about various aspects of his life, as an artist, a social worker, a human rights activist and a peace activist. For each, he invokes different parts of his personality – idealism, compassion, aggression, pacifism.

His hearing disorder, he says reflectively, makes him one of the special people, those with mental or physical disabilities whose cause he takes up.

“Growing up, I always listened to my inner voice. In the 1970s, my sufi master told me, you’ll always remain a servant of Pakistan. I am proud to be that.”

This includes arranging outings and events for special children, like receptions at posh hotels and booking cinema halls, trying to get people to see them as part of society.

At the Fourth Global Vigil for the Peshawar school massacre, Jimmy stood quietly at Boston Commons in solidarity with a small crowd of mostly Pakistani students and community members. Asked to speak, he was brief. “Terrorists have no religion or faith. They are worse than animals. Words are not enough to condemn their actions.” He called for Pakistan to act against them decisively.

A couple of days later, he seemed content on the side-lines of the annual dinner meeting of the American Pakistani Physicians of New England, happy to be acknowledged but seeking no further attention. The keynote speaker was the Karachi-based lawyer and activist Jibran Nasir.

The activist-lawyer and activist-artist had connected at a dinner at the house of activist-doctors Saira Hussain and Ehsun Mirza. They share a dream: for an inclusive, democratic Pakistan where everyone can live without discrimination or fear.

“A wonderful man,” commented Jibran later. “Humble, down-to-earth, unassuming and sincere.”

The lion story didn’t come up then. It was at the Harvard talk that PhD candidate Mariam Chughtai asked Jimmy Engineer about it. As a student at Sacred Heart School in Lahore, she saw a video of him in a cage with a roaring lion. “I was very young, and I don’t remember it well, but I am left with a message of faith overcoming fear”.

That was in Bahawalpur during his Karachi to Khyber walk in 1994, recalled Jimmy. His inner voice had sent him on this solitary, winding, year-long journey to improve himself, to learn how ordinary people live, walk and suffer, to feel their pain. He exposed himself to the elements – hot sun, cold winds — and stayed at homes or slept on the roadside along the way.

Sometimes he would step off the road and sit meditatively on the ground. Locals were astonished that village dogs, normally fierce towards strangers, did not attack him. Neither did snakes. “They said I was doing some magic. I said no, I am doing nothing.”

One morning, some locals came to the house he was staying at and took him to Bahawalpur Zoo. They wanted to him to go into a lion’s cage, and had engaged a man with a video camera who told Jimmy, “You may not be around to see this, but this video may make me very rich”.

Jimmy said he would be happy for him if that happened. He gave a small speech to the camera, then approached the lion’s cage. The keeper refused to open it, but overcame his hesitation when money changed hands.

“I felt no fear, nothing. I went into the cage. The lion circled around me then lay down. To me he looked like a puppy. We were at peace, both of us.”

This was an anti-climax. The lion is too tame, said the crowd. They took Jimmy to a cage with three lionesses, who also sat down quietly.

The disappointed dismissed these as educated lions,” Jimmy remembers with a hint of humour. “Let’s take him to the uneducated ones.”

Some ten younger lions in the next cage ran away from him.

“I told them, that’s enough. And I thought, there must be something in me,” reflects Jimmy. “Maybe it was my faith in Allah”.

Born to a Zoroastrian family in Loralai, Balochistan, he claims all religions as his own, openly stating, to the consternation of the orthodox, “I am a Muslim, a Christian, a Sikh, a Hindu, a Parsi…” and so on.

Once when he was painting the names of Allah on a mural for a company, extremists began to threaten him, objecting to a Parsi undertaking this task. He stood firm on his stance: “Allah belongs to everyone.”

The story of how he became a humanist transcending all religions involves some suspension of disbelief. At age six he became very ill, with two failed kidneys. “Doctors gave me three months to live. Thirty, forty, other children with me died.  But I lived. And I became healthier and stronger than ever before.”

Doctors were mystified. “Nature gave me two new kidneys,” is Jimmy’s explanation. This lies behind his resolve to “to always help people, to give back to nature what it gave me.”

Although the surname is “Engineer” (indicating a family profession), the boy named Jimmy (not a nickname) was more interested in art. Even at age four he was always painting. Teachers would catch him drawing in math and science classes. His parents compromised by sending him to study design at the National College of Arts in Lahore then headed by the legendary Shakir Ali.

The drawing bug wouldn’t leave him. Jimmy transferred to the fine arts department. He would often stay there all night. “Don’t you have a home to go to,” the staff would ask.

“I wanted to change the lives of people through art,” says Jimmy, who left NCA in his final year before obtaining the degree. It’s not something he brings up unless asked, “as parents don’t like it”.

His Partition series from the 1970s emerged from dreams he had about that cataclysmic time. It was another dream in January 2001 that led him to undertake his India-Pakistan peace walk later that year.

“I woke up knowing that I would do this walk in November, from Islamabad to New Delhi,” he says. “In March, I designed a special dress, with the Indian and Pakistani flags on the chest.”

After 9/11, people asked if that was the event he was going to walk for. It wasn’t. There were tensions between India and Pakistan in October but that wasn’t it either. Jimmy sent a letter to Gen. Musharraf via a brigadier saying he wanted to do India-Pakistan peace walk in November. “I didn’t want any security but I didn’t want to be stopped. I never got any reply.” The brigadier he checked with told him it was fine.

Jimmy started his solo walk on November 30, 2001 from Islamabad. “As I walked, people would ask me, will there be war? I had faith that there would be no war and I said so. People felt satisfied when they heard that.”

At Lahore, journalists asked him to wait before crossing as Eid was coming up. “A gas station owner said I could stay with him, so I stayed there for four days.”

After Eid, he visited the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh and crossed the River Ravi but sat down at the border and announced that he would stop there. “My sixth sense told me I should not cross. My purpose was to wake up the people, and that purpose had been served.”

Going over, he said, would risk having India send him back before he could reach Delhi. That would make things worse. “It would also be an insult to my country, and I didn’t want that.”

“The media wanted me to cross, to make breaking news. But it did not suit my nature. I have taken up many controversial topics, but I never like to use controversy to get attention.”

As he said then, and continues to say, “99 per cent of the people of India and Pakistan don’t have a problem with each other. The problem will be resolved the day the one per cent agrees.”

He gave his dress with the India-Pakistan flags to Nirmala Despande for the Gandhi Foundation.

The post The artist and more: Jimmy Engineer appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Family of painter donates his easels, brushes, palettes to CSMVS The family of the late master painter donates his final six paintings, study material and archives to the museum for maintenance and public display

Article by Reema Gehi | Times of India

The family of celebrated modernist painter Jehangir Sabavala has donated the last of his six canvases including an unfin ished work, which he created between 2009 and 2010, to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya in Fort. These works, along with a selection of paraphernalia from the artist’s studio, will find a permanent home in the second floor of the museum complex. Sabavala’s widow, Shireen and their daughter Aafreed, have also bequeathed a substantial, but undisclosed, sum to the museum to pay for the upkeep of the paintings. “The works would just be sitting here, wrapped up,“ she told Mumbai Mirror. “We’d rather share it with the city.“

The six artworks, each of them an oil on canvas -Brown Landscape, The Cobras, The Eye, The Raven, Blue Seascape and The Unfinished Landscape -are being treated at the Museum Art Conservation Centre at CSMVS. To commemorate the acquisition, a preview will be held at the museum’s Curator’s Gallery, soon. “The museum is creating space to accommodate not only the art of the past, but also the art of the present for future,“ said its director general, Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

After Sabavala passed away in September 2011, Shireen maintained his studio on Altamount Road in its extant condition brushes, paints, and canvases neatly set in order where the artist had placed them. Every painting of his is traceable, as Sabavala maintained complete records. Not only did he chronicle his own work, but he also made notes of the things that fascinated him, the exhibitions he viewed, and amassed news clippings, photographs, catalogues, and sketches of his work. A volunteer, working at his studio for several months, archived every detail of Sabavala’s life.

The painter’s material effects, including easels; brushes; palettes; old watercolour drawings; books such as those on the Expressionist Lyonel Feininger, to which Sabavala often referred; serigraphs; notes and sketch books will be donated to the museum.“Between his notes and sketches, papa created his paintings,“ said Aafreed, recalling how she and her mother spent hours at Mahableshwar, while her father made voluble comments on the changing colour of the sky, which would eventually translate in his paintings.

Always considered “the other modernist“, Sabavala, unlike his contemporaries MF Husain, Tyeb Mehta and Krishen Khanna, was not part of the Bombay Progressive Artists’ Group. He studied art extensively.After receiving his fine arts diploma from Sir JJ School of Art in 1944, he moved to Europe, and completed his education at renowned arts schools ­ The Heatherly School of Art, London (1945-1947), The Academie Julian and Academie Andre Lhote, Paris (1948-51), The Academie Julian (1953-54) and The Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris (1957).

He then returned to Mumbai, to become a pioneer of the city’s art scene.

Between 1951 and 1964, he was an apprentice of the cubist style.From 1964 to 1976, he started exploring the visionary landscape, which was not an optical representation of geographic scene, but created with a metaphysical dimension. Then, 1976 onwards, he began creating spectral figures.Until the 1980s his colour palette was quiet and subdued, but, surprisingly, in the last 15 years he used vibrant colours.

His last show in 2008, Ricors: An Exhibition of Painting by Jehangir Sabavala, on which he worked for over two-and-a-half years, was a summary of all the three phases he went through as an artist. A film was made to mark the show, the DVD of which will be available at the museum for viewing. The family has also set up the Jehangir Sabavala Foundation and hosted their first memorial lecture by painter, author and photographer Richard Lannoy in October 2012.They’ll also oversee the display at the museum.

The post Jehangir Sabavala’s last six works now at Prince of Wales Museum in Mumbai appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The Dainik Bhaskar INK Awards were held in Mumbai on August 21, 2015 to celebrate creativity in Print advertising.

Madison World turned up big winners at the event with multiple wins between Madison Media and Madison BMB.

Madison Media won the award for Media Agency of the Year along with a Gold in Best Direct Response Advertising –National sub-category of Media awards, for ‘Shower of Purple Hearts’ for client Mondelez. The agency also won two Silvers for the same work — Best Innovation in Newspaper Advertising-National and Best Media Planning Strategy incorporating Print-National.

Madison Media’s ‘De-MYTH-ifying Colour’ for Asian Paints bagged them a Silver for Best Innovation in Newspaper Advertising-National. The agency also won a Bronze award for Best Contextual Newspaper Advertising –National, for Godrej’s ‘Google Search on Print’.

Madison BMB won two Golds for ‘Jiyo Parsi’ campaign done for PARZOR Foundation for Best Copywriting-Campaign and Best Creative Advertising –Single ad or Campaign-Not for Profit and Public Service.

Speaking to exchange4media at the 2^nd Edition of the Dainik Bhaskar INK Awards, Chairman and MD of Madison World, Sam Balsara said of winning the Media Agency of the Year Award, “We are absolutely delighted as this is a hat trick for Madison. A few months ago we won the Radio Agency of the Year, last month we won the Media Agency of the Year and now at the Print awards we win the Print Media Agency of the Year Award. The focus that we had brought about on awards two years ago is beginning to pay off.”

Further discussing the direction of advertising in Print, Balsara spoke about the expectations from the medium in the future. “Print media today, has a larger percentage share of the total advertising pie because print operates on a much wider canvas than television. If television has 30,000 advertisers, Print has 1.5 lakh advertisers. While it’s true that among the large advertisers, the share of print sharply comes down every decade, I think the number of new advertisers who are emergining in this country is phenomenal and print is always the entry point for these advertisers. Therefore, I have no doubt that print is going to continue to gain in this country for a long time.”

He pointed out that the expansion of newspapers to include various regional editions will aid in bringing in new advertisers.

“The language papers are going berserk expanding editions. As these editions expand, there will be more and more local advertising that will come into this. While Print all over the world is seeing a slow down, I have no doubt that in India Print is going to continue to grow for quite some time to come. I don’t think we should be so worried about market share. It’s important for the medium to get in newer advertisers and instil a certain pride and a craft into Print advertising so that they are able to create magic with a combination of just four or five words. An outstanding example of that is our ‘Jiyo Parsi’ campaign. My favourite two lines in it are, ‘Isn’t it time you broke up with your mom?’ and the other ‘Be responsible. Don’t use a condom tonight.’ The combination of just four or five word and it conjures up so much in your mind. That is what I call crafting and we need to infuse that skill in our young creative talent only then will our print pages begin to fire advertisers’ imaginations,” Balsara explained.

You can watch the video here

The post Sam Balsara on instilling a certain pride and craft into Print Advertising appeared on Parsi Khabar.

In this episode of Talking Point, Exec Lifestyle chats up Cyrus Oshidar. Touted as one of the 10 most influential people from advertising world in India, Oshidar is credited for his inputs in giving MTV India its iconic brand image.

In this candid chat with our host Papri Das, Cyrus opens up on his new digital venture 101India.com  and how digital will give away for sharing unconventional stories.

The post In conversation with Cyrus Oshidar appeared on Parsi Khabar.

His thought is intensive. His vision is artistic. His sensibility is detailed. His fashion unfolds history. Ashdeen Lilaowala has not only preserved the culture of Gara embroidery but revived it successfully making his Gara creations extremely coveted.

Article published on asafetypin.com

I fell in love with his beautifully embroidered and contemporary chic sarees when I spotted them on the runway. His eye for design and composition combined with intense research and knowledge into the evolution of Gara embroidery affects fabrics that are inventive.

Traveling through Iran and China, Ashdeen collaborated with the UNESCO Parzor Foundation conducting a detailed research on Parsi embroidery for the Minister of Textiles. Documenting various Parsi Gara embroideries across various cities in India, he trained 120 crafts people in the art of Gara.

He showcased at the Lakme Fashion Week recently and I am looking forward on getting my hands on his chinese porcelain inspired saree. The uber chic Radhika Gupta of moonriverstore.com brings him to Singapore on Wednesday the 23rd at The Four Seasons Hotel.

The keeper of crafts talks to me about his journey with Gara and its immeasurable rewards. His creations ensure, you will leave an heirloom behind.

Do you have a fashion background in terms of academics or family lineage?

I wanted to be a doctor. I did well academically and was encouraged by my family and teachers to pursue medicine. While I was in middle school, my elder sister started studying fashion and that triggered my interest in design and fashion.

In school, I would be constantly drawing fashion illustrations in all my textbooks. Soon, I was convinced that I wanted to do something creative but didn’t know what and where. My parents made me meet a neighbor who was a commercial artist and he suggested I apply at National Institute of Design (NID). I did a reccee of the institute and immediately knew I wanted to join NID and study Textile Design.

As luck would have it, I got admission in my first attempt and joined NID in 1998.

How did your label Ashdeen start?

In 2005-2006 with UNESCO Parzor Foundation, I conducted a detail research project on Parsi Embroidery for the Ministry of Textiles. I travelled through Iran and China to trace the routes and origins of the craft. I also documented several private Parsi embroidery collections in various cities of India.

I conducted four training workshops in Ahmedabad, Navsari, Mumbai and Delhi. More than 120 craft’s person were introduced and trained in Parsi Gara embroidery. I organized a symposium and exhibition, “Painting with a Needle” at NCPA, Mumbai and curated an exhibition titled “Parsi Panorama” held at IIC, New Delhi in 2011.

All through I had an embroidery workshop in which I did extremely fine Haute-Couture embroidery for a client in Los Angeles. People had started asking me to make gara saris for them. I made a few garas, which were replicas of antique pieces. All along I was thinking of ways in which they could be contemporized. With great support from my parents, I started my own eponymous label in October 2012.

What has influenced you in your fashion journey?

Influences come from all corners. I just try and keep my mind and senses open to receive them.

Strong cultural references and embroidery are key features in your collections. How did that happen?

I have always wanted to create a cinematic journey in which magnificent examples of Parsi Gara Embroidery explore the long history of interaction between the Parsis of India and China. With the sea trade, the Parsis imported fabulous textiles and ceramics, giving rise to a lasting legacy of chinoiserie. I have always been inspired by this Chinese imagery and aesthetic. Each season, I decode the rich motifs, patterns, colours and details to create my romanticized notion of the exotic East. Each sari and garment is painstakingly created with a clear debt to old Chinese fine and decorative arts without slavishly reproducing it.

Can you elaborate on the different types of the embroideries used from the Zoroastrian craft?

Parsi Gara embroidery is a beautiful amalgam of Chinese, Persian, Indian and European influences. There has significant exchange of motifs, fabrics and ideas to create a unique garment patronized and worn by a very miniscule community in India. Parsi embroidery is largely done with satin stitch. Various types of satin stitches are modified to do the rendering. The popular types of satin stitches are the long & short stitch, encroach satin and a void stitch. The other popular stitch was the forbidden stitch or Peking knot.

Your design process…

Since the inspiration is largely the Orient and Parsi gara embroidery, I start with finding visuals and details from the craft for inspiration. I always sketch the full sari, as women would wear it, all the details are thought of. Then we start to find the right fabric for the embroidery. A detailed khakha or tracing is made of the embroidery design. This is pinned and then placed on the stretched fabric for transferring. The sari is embroidered on the adda or wooden frame. Often, four to five craftsperson work on the frame collectively. Once the sari is embroidered we decide on a detail for the finishing.

How do you contextualise embroideries into a contemporary woman’s life?

We have been making timeless, elegant saris, which women often wear on special occasions. These are not your everyday saris and thus the embroidery is special. I think most contemporary Indian women want a slice of tradition and culture in their wardrobes. Today, a lot of young women want to be connected to their roots and culture, a gara or any other sari, which has a strong tradition, gives them this bond. In a fast mass market, a unique sari can give any women a great sense of pride and individuality.

A designer needs to experiment with techniques and a vary of materials all the time. How do you keep evolving in every collection?

We have been experimenting with fabrics and materials from the very first collection. The idea is to adapt the embroidery on new materials and take it in a new realm. For dupattas, we have used hand-woven silks from Bengal. Fine matka and tussar silks for our saris. We did a full collection in which we used leheriya dyed fabric for the saris and accessories. We have also been using metallic yarns in shades of silver and gold to do the embroidery. This has been our innovation for Parsi embroidery. We also combine traditional Indian techniques of applique, chikan and cutwork in our range.

What are the motifs commonly seen in the craft you endorse?

Parsi Embroidery is full of exotic patterns where flora and fauna mingle effortlessly with architecture. Dancing peacocks and soaring cranes are interspersed with blooming bunches of chrysanthemums, peonies and roses. Elegant pagodas and delicate bridges are embroidered with daily life of Chinese people. The most famous motifs are the China-chini (china man and chinese woman gara), the chakla-chakli (male and female sparrow) margha-murghi (rooster and hen garo). Other quaint gara motifs include the polka dots, which are called kanda-papeta gara (onions and potatoes) and the spinwill motif is known as karolia or spider.

What’s special about the line you are bringing to Singapore?

For Singapore we are bringing a range of classic ASHDEEN Garas along with our recent collection, “The Scent of the Orient”, which was showcased at Lakme fashion Week 2015.

In this collection, we have infused Chinese imagery on traditional Indian saris and jackets. We have also introduced a range of Gara embroidery lehengas for the contemporary Indian bride.

The collection explores the charm of Blue & White Chinese Porcelain. Flora and fauna from these fine pieces have been delicately embroidered in tonal shades of blue and cream on the saris. Fluid chiffon and crepe silk saris have been dyed in rich tones of cobalt, crimson, burgundy and slate giving the perfect contrast to the embroidery.

Border details from Chinese Imperial jackets have been interpreted in saris and blouses. Floral patterns of roses, peonies and chrysanthemums along with exotic birds from chinoiserie and traditional Japanese kimonos have been have been embroidered with silk yarns, silver and gold metallic threads to give an elegant, yet opulent look.

Radhika Gupta of moonriverstore.com brings Ashdeen Lilaowala to Singapore on the 23rd of September @ The Four Seasons, Singapore.

The post Ashdeen Lilaowala: Keeping the Gara flame alive appeared on Parsi Khabar.

If you happen to be in town with some time to spare, we recommend you hop over to Kala Ghoda’s Max Mueller Bhavan Gallery to catch Kids in Focus. The one-of-a-kind photo exhibition has on view the work of children from Salaam Baalak Trust. The exhibition will showcase over 80 photographs taken by the children of the NGO, who have all experimented with the medium of photography.

Through it, they have explored and documented their own worlds and lives. This project has been conceptualised and facilitated by 17 year old photography enthusiast Iyanah Bativala.

Here are some pictures from today’s opening clicked by Iyanah’s proud mom Sooni Taraporevala

Friday October 2nd is the last day.

WHERE: Gallery MMB, Goethe-Instit, Max Mueller Bhavan, K. Dubash Marg, Kala Ghoda

WHEN: October 1 (5 pm-8 pm) and October 2 (11 am-7 pm)

ENTRY: Free CALL: 2202 7710

The other side of vulnerable

By Anju Maskeri |Mid Day

Children from the Salaam Balak Trust use point-and-shoot cameras to capture motion, monsoon and everything in between

Sixteen-year-old Aakash Yadav loves the monsoon. The puffs of grey, the chaotic droplets and gusting winds are palpable entities in his photographs that range from black and white to colour. “I find people are at their most vulnerable during the rains. And, that’s when I like to capture them,” he says, holding up a photograph he took at the Gateway of India of a girl playing in the rain.

Yadav, who stays with his parents in a south Mumbai slum, has been associated with the Salaam Baalak Trust — an NGO that provides care and protection to street children and aims to integrate them into the mainstream through education — for nine years. He is one of 12 children from the NGO to have trained in photography since January in a workshop organised by Iyanah Bativala, 17-year-old daughter of Sooni Taraporevala, screenwriter and photographer best known for her work in The Namesake and Oscar-nominated Salaam Bombay.

Photographer: Nagraj Mallapa Location: Charni Road

“I taught them the basics, but I had to call in for professional help since I am still learning myself. Moreover,” she adds, “they are a rambunctious bunch.” Bativala, a Std XII student of Bombay International School, approached photographer Ayesha Broacha and photo journalist Sudharak Olwe for help. Olwe says that the children’s humble background worked to their advantage. “While their life is all about struggle, the upside is that they are street smart and learn quickly,” he says, adding that he trained them on how to be confident on field, taking pictures in a crowd, maneuvering around policemen, besides of course, the technical aspects of photography. The Tata Group provided five point-and-shoot cameras and a computer to kick off the project.

Photographer: Aakash Yadav Location: Girgaum Chowpatty

This was the first time that children, all in the 13-17 age group, had held a camera. “Although some of us had clicked pictures from a camera phone earlier, they were random. They lacked meaning,” says Nagraj Malappa, 17, a Std XII student and the oldest in the group. His favourite turf for photography is Marine Drive and he is especially proud of a picture that shows a woman crossing cement slabs. “I like moving, action shots,” he says.

Photographer: Afrin Khan Location: Charni Road

While theory lessons were taught at Bal Bhavan, Chowpatty, from 4 pm to 6 pm once a week, the students were left to their own devices during the outdoor shoots. The cameras were given to the teenagers who were allowed to experiment with it at their own time. “We could capture anything that took our fancy, but would have to explain why we clicked that picture,” says Heena, who feels her best picture was that of a bird perched on a tree. Eighty-five of these pictures have now been curated for a two-day exhibition at the Goethe Institut, Kala Ghoda.

Iyanah Bativala (second from right), a Std XII student, with the Salaam Balak Trust children at Bal Bhavan, Chowpatty. Pic/Tushar Satam –

The post Iyanah Bativala Curates Kids in Focus Exhibition at Max Mueller Bhavan appeared on Parsi Khabar.

A Keynote Speech by Jimmy Engineer (Celebrated Award-Winning Pakistani Artist, Author, Humanitarian and Philanthropist) titled “Evolution of Contemporary Art in Pakistan”

(ICD House Berlin; October 8th, 2015)
The Center for Cultural Diplomacy Studies – Publications
Institute for Cultural Diplomacy
www.ccds-berlin.de
www.culturaldiplomacy.org
The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy

The post Jimmy Engineer: Evolution of Contemporary Art in Pakistan appeared on Parsi Khabar.

Sitting inside helicopters, sea planes, and even commercial airliners with his camera at the ready, Travel and Lifestyle Photographer Rishad Daroowala has captured some truly stunning aerial views of everything from Manhattan to Glacier National Park.

Helicopter Photography: Top Tips and Stunning Photos by Rishad Daroowala

Rishad is an undeniably talented photographer in many regards—he’s shot portraiture, nature, urban exploration, commercial photography, even wildlife on occasion—and he’s got the massive social following to prove it. But it was his aerials that first caught our eye, and so we sat down with Rishad to ask him for some tips, and see if he would share his favorite aerial images with us (and you) here at ISO.

Whether or not you’re interested in shooting aerial images, we have a feeling you’ll enjoy the Q&A and photos below. So check em out and don’t forget to drop us a line in the comments when you’re done!

What draws you to aerial photography?

A unique perspective I think. I’ve always found it fascinating to look down on places I’ve visited or even lived all my life and see things from a totally different point of view from above ground.

Cities, lakes, and mountains can either look far bigger than they appear or much much smaller. The world looks much different from a bird’s eye view.

We noticed that a lot of your aerial shots are captured from helicopters. What are some things to consider when taking photos from a chopper?

There are few key things:

– The main thing to consider is speed. If you’re shooting out of a heli, you could be flying up to 150miles/hr—which can make focusing a challenge and shaky photos an unwanted final result. You’ll want to increase the shutter speed of your images to compensate and reduce blurry, shaky photos as much as possible.

– Time of Day. If you have control of when you’re flying—sunrise or towards dusk is the best time to shoot aerials in my opinion. Nothing is worse than shooting midday in harsh light and finding unwanted reflections over water or washed out skies.

– Timing is everything and switching lenses will usually mean a missed photo opportunity. Carry multiple camera bodies with a wide angle and zoom lens if you have it.

– If you’re shooting out of a helicopter, have the doors removed and get harnessed in. It’s much easier to move around and shoot at all angles unimpeded instead of through a small window or glass (shooting through glass also means unwanted reflections). Remember to dress warm if the doors are off because you will be cold!

What camera settings do you use?

I almost always shoot in ‘shutter priority mode’ (TV mode on Canon or S mode on Nikon) instead of Manual because you won’t have time to manually meter your images. If there’s adequate light, I’ll usually shoot at 1/300s or faster at around 400ISO to be safe.

I keep autofocus on and switch to Servo mode. This will track your subject automatically which is easier in the air. And I always suggest using Image Stabilization if you have it.

What must-have gear do you take with you when you shoot from the air?

If I could only carry one lens, I would recommend a wide angle to take in as much as possible. When shooting out of a plane I usually carry my Canon 16-35mm (on a full frame camera) which also has Image Stabilization. IS is also important, to reduce shake as much as possible.

Beyond a great wide angle lens, a good quality camera strap that extends around your body is key. You’ll want to keep your camera very secure if you have an open door…

And finally, keep extra memory cards close by. You’ll be surprised how quickly even a 64GB card fills up.

Can you walk us through your post processing workflow? Are there any special edits you use for aerials?

I have a few presets I’ve built over the years that serve as my base, or I’ll begin with a VSCO filter and adjust accordingly.

With aerial images, increase your sharpness if your images are slightly blurry and apply a grad filter to pull back on overexposed skies. Other than that, your workflow shouldn’t be too much different than any of your other photos.

Finally, what is your favorite helicopter ride you’ve taken thus far?

I would have to say over Glacier National Park in Montana. The glacial waters, pristine mountains, and snow-capped lakes were like nothing I’ve ever seen.

A huge thanks to Rishad for taking the time to answer our questions, share his favorite shots, and offer a few top tips! We hope you found this Q&A as enjoyable and helpful as we did.

To see more of his work, be sure to follow him on 500px, visit his website, check out his blog, and show him some love on Instagram.

The post Rishad Daroowala: Helicopter Photography appeared on Parsi Khabar.

What: ‘Arresting Developments’ a photography exhibition by Parhad Goghavala on the windows of Bombay

When: 31st Jan –  Feb 20; 11 am to 7 pm.

Where: Gallery 7,

G3 Ground Floor, Oricon House,

12/14 Rampart Row, K Dubash Rd

Kalaghoda, Mumbai 400001

‘Arresting Developments’ by Parhad Goghavala

Arresting Developments is a collection of images of windows of Bombay by Mumbai born, international Indian photographer Parhad Goghavala.  The images express his love for this maximum and sometimes overwhelming metropolis, Mumbai. It is a voyeuristic view into the everyday lives of the people of Mumbai. Using beautiful facades of derelict buildings from the earlier part of the last century and their windows as a canvas. The artist sees each image as telling a different story in an almost poetic visual style which draws the viewer closer and thereby revealing fascinating details as the image is recited, as it were.

The artist would like you to experience the images without judging them. All the images have been captured at a precise time of day in order to capture as much detail, colour and texture of the subject as possible, resulting in the artist having to visit the same site several times in order to get that perfect shot. The collection has been shot over the period of two years 2008-09.

The images have been captured in the old neighbourhood of Byculla down to Crawford market towards the South of the city. As busy Mumbaiites we tend to focus on where we need to get to and never really look around, as the city can get quite overwhelming. This is an opportunity to experience the raw unfiltered beauty that Mumbai has to offer, it may even encourage you to look around at this great city a little more and find beauty everywhere, arresting you in your tracks…

About the Photographer

Parhad Goghavala was born in 1974 in Mumbai, India. He was sent to the prestigious Cathedral& John Connon School, where he was first introduced to the camera, dark room techniques and photography as an extra subject. Subsequently, he studied mathematics and physics and eventually graduated in subjects in which he had little or no interest. 

Parhad moved to London in 1996 in order to pursue another degree, Industrial Design at Brunel University, London. He also did several art and portfolio building courses at Central Saint Martins, London, strengthening his appreciation for colour, form and aesthetics.

After having dabbled with the camera on his travels and doing the basic course at the Photographic Society of India in 2001, Parhad decided to take what was a serious amateur pursuit and turn it into a professional one. He assisted commercial and fashion photographer Himanshu Seth before enrolling for the Mastercraftsman 2 year course at The Shari Academy of Photography and Digital Imaging where he learnt studio lighting techniques and how to ‘see light’.

Parhad had his first show “Images Inspired by the Art of Cocktail Making” in Association with The Bar Company in Dec 2006 at Henry Tham’s Lounge, Mumbai. The commercial success of the show encouraged him to further his passion for photography and image making.

Parhad is a member of the Photographers Guild of India (PGI) and has received an award from the guild for his image ‘Lasting Impressions’ at their annual exhibiton ‘EXHIBIT A’ in 2007. Keen to use the passion for his craft to give back to society, he organised an exhibition of his collection “Effloresce – Flowers of Breach Candy’ at the prestigious Breach Candy Swimming Bath Trust in December 2010, where he was able to raise a considerable amount, as a 100% of the sale of the images were donated to charity.

In 2012 he was commissioned by the Ador group of companies to cover the walls of their swanky, newly designed head office at Ador House in Kalaghoda, Mumbai with his signature style of aesthetically beautiful images of their industrial plants at work.

Parhad is also a commercial photographer and has shot for high end international Michelin starred restaurants such as Hakkasan and Yauatcha and exclusive publications such as Elle Decor. He is passionate about clicking Interiors, Food, Fashion and Fine Art.  Parhad returned to London in November 2012, where he zealously put together a vast, very impressive portfolio of fashion images shot in London till early 2014. (Parhadgoghavala.com/fashion)

Parhad is having his first serious Fine Art exhibition titled “Arresting Developments” shot in 2008 at Gallery 7, Kalaghoda, Mumbai this February 2016. The images express his love for this maximum and sometimes overwhelming metropolis. It is a voyeuristic view into the everyday lives of the people of Mumbai, using the beautiful facades of derelict buildings from the earlier part of the last century and their windows as a canvas.

Apart from shooting for well known personalities and publications in Mumbai, he is currently working on his first highly creative fashion calender for the year 2017. A truly international Indian photographer, he is the next big name to look out for in the Fashion and Fine Art Photography world. 

To check out some of his amazing images logon to his website parhadgoghavala.com.

The post Arresting Developments: A photography exhibition by Parhad Goghavala appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The Parsis are descendants of a group of 10th century Zoroastrians from Iran, practitioners of a three-and-a-half thousand year-old faith. Fleeing persecution under their Muslim Arab conquerors, the ancestors of today’s Parsis traveled to India by open boat, according to legend, to seek religious freedom and economic opportunity.

The great Parsi families made their money in trade in the 19th century and they were among the first Indians to embrace Western education, enjoying friendly professional and personal relations with the British and prospering under the colonial government. Their success continued after independence, when the real estate they owned became more valuable than the commodities they’d once traded and produced.

Despite their enormous influence, the Parsi population has been declining steadily since 1955, and today numbers about 60,000 in India. They are concentrated in Mumbai, where a large number of schools, hospitals, streets, and monuments bear their distinctive names.

Photographer Chiara Goia traveled with writer Nell Freudenberger to report on the Parsi community and to document the stories of this declining community.

An area designated for the display of the body during the funeral service, before it is taken to the tower of silence, inside the Doongerwadi complex. Image by Chiara Goia. India, 2014.

Photographs lie on a shelf inside the home of Feroza Vakil, a 103-year old Parsi woman. Image by Chiara Goia. India, 2014.

Continue here to see more photographs by Chiara Goia

The post House of Fire: The Declining Community of Parsi in Mumbai appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The post A peek into Parsi life appeared on Parsi Khabar.

The master puppeteer who gave life to mammoth puppets besides song and dance sequences in modern puppetry, is back with a one-of-its-kind exhibition detailing the journey of Zorastrianism, considered among the oldest religions in the world.

Sangeet Natak Academi award winner, Dadi Pudumjee is one of the curators of the ‘Everlasting Flame International’ exhibition, being held at premier cultural institutes in the capital under Humari Dharohar scheme in collaboration with Culture Ministry and city based Parzor Foundation.

Pudumjee, an established name in the world of puppetry has designed Amesha Spenta- a class of divine entities in Zorastrianism for the ‘Threads of Continuity’ exhibition on show presently at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts here.

“My creation represents the six immortal elements of air, water, earth, fire, metal and human mind. Amesha Spenta in Zorastrianism represent the duality of life i.E. The existence of good and evil. It talks about the dilemma we face when we have to choose sides in life,” he says.

The Padma Shri awardee who is credited with giving a modern twist to puppetry by incorporating life size puppets, music, text etal in his shows, feels that puppetry is no more bound to children and it is time to institutionalise the craft.

“Puppetry today has evolved into a more universal entity, both in terms of its audience and the themes it touches upon. It is gradually becoming a potent tool to address social issues. It is not just kids’ entertainment any more.

“People are interested in learning this craft. A lot of puppeteers and enthusiasts have expressed interest in institutionalising the art,” he says.

Pudumjee, President of UNIMA, the world puppet

organisation says that as part of the ‘Master Class’ initiative by the global body, efforts are on to deliberate upon the feasibility of teaching puppetry.

“We are deliberating upon how puppetry can be taught as a discipline. The idea is not to look at puppetry as just a performance. It is a conversation with your audience,” he says.

Coming back to the exhibition, Pudumjee says the whole idea was to chronicle the history of Parsis in India and abroad.

“Our knowledge of Parsis is often restricted to few Bollywood characters and half baked knowledge about the community. The whole exhibition thing began with the question ‘Ye Parsi kya cheez hai’,” he quips.

“Although there are many Parsi settlements in Mumbai and Ahmedabad, their number is quite small in Delhi. The exhibition has opened an interesting dialogue about the Parsi culture and their contribution to various fields,” he says.

Pudumjee, who is also known for creating the visually stunning puppets in the ‘Bismil’ song in Bollywood flick ‘Haider’, says that he is game for more such offers from the film industry.

The post Time to institutionalise puppetry: Dadi Pudumjee appeared on Parsi Khabar.