Artist Natalia Rodriguez along with URBZ’s Shyam Kanle and the kids of the Dharavi Shelter have produced this photo novel, which is the first of a series. The story was entirely invented by the kids. This fiction says as much about their reality as about their creativity .
In this series, the kids speak about their neighbourhood and lives. They tell us how Dharavi is anancient place that is surprisingly able to rethink and transform itself again and again
Giving a voice to the kids is urgent and inevitable. Whether it is to talk about communal tension, the arbitrariness of the state or the daily struggles of Mumbaikars. They are not only our future, but also our bright present!
Dharavi has been an interesting setting for many Mumbai based films. This article discusses a few films from the past decades that feature Dharavi as a place central to their narratives.
What began as a regular jostling and tugging of the idea in a brainstorm soon took off as an imaginative exercise that encouraged creative and personal readings of the concept and the making of its visual expressions.
In the second part of this series, we explore two leather workshops near the 90 feet road in Dharavi, to understand where and how all processes in the creation of leather products are carried out.
Cutouts from URBZ’s mural at the Uneven Growth exhibition opening at the MAK Museum in Vienna.
