Fine art photo exhibition

Posted by: Chandu Mhatre

Urban Reflections
Urban reflections, is a collection of realistic and surreal images of Mumbai, India, as seen by me, over the last seven years. These photographs capture the rapidly changing life of Mumbai, which has adopted the path of vertical growth during the last decade.
This ‘makeover’ in the name of ‘development’ is changing the city’s skyline rapidly; in their quest for materialism, people are uprooted from their cultural moorings thereby resulting in urban chaos. Sea links, highways and flyovers inundated with vehicles have added to the frantic pace of life. The resulting images are seen reflected, on mirrored walls, windows and doors. Contemporary life in Mumbai is a vibrant kaleidoscope of colours and images.
The continuous flow of migrants to Mumbai makes it a melting pot of cultures and traditions. People from all levels of society come with hope, intellectual inputs, traditional values, religious beliefs and cultural nuances. They provide manpower needed to keep the city running. This in turn has an impact on urban life, creating opportunities as well as tensions due to conflicts of interest, beliefs, values and their survival instinct.
All these trends are powerfully reflected in images of the city. Urban Reflections captures these images as reflected on glass façades, mirror walls, doors and dressed up windows. Documenting life in Mumbai is an on-going process as the city is always changing. Mumbai as seen in these reflections evokes different emotions as one tries to distinguish the real from the illusion. These photographs with their multi-layered images makes us reflect on the future of this vibrant city on the Indian subcontinent.
~ Chandu Mhatre