Twinkle, twinkle: Shilpa Gupta's art lights up Carter Road

The sea-facing stretch of Carter Road in Bandra is mostly known for traffic jams. Until March 9, however, you won’t mind if you get stuck at the bandstand because of artist Shilpa Gupta’s public art piece.

“I Live Under Your Sky Too” was supported by Creative India and Bandra West Residents’ Association and took two years to come together.

This one-liner has meant a lot of work for Gupta, who had to run around for permits, keep sea and wind pressure in mind while setting up the work and, of course, raising funds. The installation shows “I live under your sky too” written in lights and in three languages. In English, Hindi and Urdu, that one line is a reminder of the famous Nehruvian catchphrase, “unity and diversity”. Gupta tells us more about her artwork.  

What’s “I Live Under Your Sky Too” about?
We often tend to define ourselves with a national identity when the oldest nation is less than 200 years old. And people across borders, be it national, religious etc, share more in common culturally than what gets projected. 

Is making public art more fun than a gallery show?
My work is about language and perception and so I’m interested in the multiple roles art can play. One of its great possibilities is to connect with a wider audience, more so in our context as few people visit art galleries and there are hardly any active public art institutions. The response been really worth all the hazaar difficulties.

What’s been the best part of putting up this piece?
People’s reactions. A few days back, I was sitting next to the work and there were some girls sitting there and we got chatting. They said that they were hanging out there because of the work. That made me feel like it was worth it.