Mumbai Diary: Friday Dossier

Pic/Atul Kamble

Riding the tide

A young boy rides his cycle through the waterlogged streets of Sion on Thursday while his friend helps him with balance

For art's sake

Frog of the Well by Neeraj Khandka (right) missivestoafuture by Malavika Rajnarayan. Pics Courtesy/SPACE118

Artists stand tall with help from the rest of the arts ecosystem. Space118's Fundraiser was founded on that fraternal feeling by art curator Saloni Doshi. The third edition titled Yours in Truth will open on August 1. Doshi shared, "We have 20 artists and over 350 art pieces developed across thoughts and processes. These artworks take after a period we have collectively battled and are still battling. The title Yours in Truth aims to capture what artists have been dealing with during the pandemic.

Everybody has been in a state of flux. Political issues like the Ukraine war or the Sri Lanka crisis adds to our uncertainty. Such sensitivities bring context to the show." It will feature artists Amba Sayal-Bennett, Animesh Mahata, Malavika Rajnarayan and Neeraj Khandka among others. The display that contributes 50 per cent of its earnings to Space118 Fine Arts Grant and the other half to artists, can be physically accessed at the residency's Mazgaon address.

The rise of the machines

If you thought AI is taking over the world, you may just be right. Actor Dia Mirza (in pic, left) has now been turned into an online intellectual property (IP) by an artificial intelligence (AI) program. This has been done to create interactive customer messages for a sustainable home-care brand. Aditya Ruia (in pic, right), co-founder, Beco, told this diarist that it is simply the next step in innovation. "We innovated the way customers engage with our brand by creating the first-ever digital avatar of a celebrity to send hyper-personalised real-time messages." Touting it as the first, Ruia believes such technology will play a key role in the future. "Technology and creativity are no longer exclusive as we enter the era of Web 3.0, and AI will play a crucial role in it," he remarked.

It's all about movement

Can you tell a story by saying nothing at all? Theatre practitioner Sananda Mukhopadhyaya, co-founder, Sphere Arts Education, believes body and movement offer a vocabulary to express ourselves, and tell stories in varied ways. She will be decoding these two key tools of theatre for children between the ages of nine and 12 at a workshop at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum tomorrow. "It's a starter kit to look at how the body functions in theatre, how movement creates images, and how it can be used as a narrative tool. Children will be able to exercise themselves into thinking with the body and realising that a lot can be expressed without necessarily speaking," she told this diarist.

Turn a new leaf

The eternal truth of life rests on change. As seasons pass, days end and flowers wither, they make room for a fresh start. A Book of New Beginnings by poet and novelist Jerry Pinto upholds the light of hope in a world that has transitioned through a pandemic. The writer believes that hope is our common bedrock. "All of us - cynics, realists and optimists alike - base our lives on hope. And this book is a reminder that each new day has something new to offer, and is an invitation to becoming something new. It's all leavened with reminders from Muktabai about the transience of emotions and Nida Fazli on the even-handed universe." We hope the book heralds new beginnings for its readers, too.

A win for visual stories

An illustration from Aai and I

This diarist can vouch for the pride that fills a daughter's heart to know that she resembles her mother. Aai and I by Mamta Nainy and Sanket Pethkar builds on that emotion. It explores innocence emerging into impatience and finally, into the search for identity beyond a mother's shadow.

The book that stands out in Pethkar's vibrant artistic style recently made it to the shortlist for the Mehlli Gobhai Children's Book Illustrator Award. About the recognition introduced by MCubed or Maharashtra Mitra Mandal Library, Pethkar told us, "It is an honour. The picture book narrates a story that every artist would want to work on. Because of its cinematic script, I could experiment with my art, too."