He doesn't divulge any details as to how he took aerial shots of Mumbai, but the results are there for all to see. 'Mumbai Articles: Contemporary Aerial Photographs of Mumbai', an exhibition of the macroscopic black and white photographs by Robert D Stephens, is being shown till November 25 at Artisans Gallery in Kala Ghoda.
An architect by profession, Stephens took these photographs from 2009 to 2014 from 15,000 ft above sea level, mostly chronicling South Mumbai. They have been layered with texts from books dating back to the 1800's that he collected from Flora Fountain. They also mention the previous and current pollution levels around the areas captured.
"It is the most unambitious project I've ever undertaken, I am now saturated, but people have been generous with their praise about how these pictures are a gift to the city," said Stephens, who is inundated with the social media attention his work has received.
Born and brought up in South Carolina, 30-year-old Stephens came to Mumbai for his first job at RMA Architects in 2007. "I lived in South Bombay for the better part of my stay, and have moved to Bandra. I was heartbroken when Cafe Tardeo shut down because they had the best Masoor Ki Daal in the city and now we have a Domino's in its place. It is exactly what I am trying to capture – a city losing its local identity for a more global one. If a city is built on speed and cost cutting, it is being raised on isolated values," he said.
Stephens draws the streets of Mumbai on a 2ftx3ft paper and has made 4 of them till now. He also found a plan of the Sea Link dating to 1964 in a book he picked up. "Bombay is a bizarre city. It did not exist before the British built and left. There was a court case that ran for 10 years where the locals filed a complaint against the British for taking their land to stack hay. Today, that land is Mahalaxmi racecourse," he said while pointing out to one of his pictures.
He realised that most of his pictures were grainy due to pollution, when his wife, Tina Nandi, pointed it out. Text on of the walls reads out the level of Nitrogen Oxide, Sulphur Dioxide and respirable suspended particulate matter, which sometimes goes more than 4 times than its permissible level. "There are a lot of serious problems in Mumbai and the pictures are an honest representation in an archival format. This city is one of the most misrepresented ones in the world as most of its perceptions are either slums or high rises. If I don't show it the way it is, then I'll be dragging the city into a different identity than what it deserves," said Stephens, who took the pictures from a small Sony handheld camera.
Owner of Artisans gallery, Radhi Parekh has known Stephens since the time he came to document the building. She saw his clicks on Facebook and found them to be a very different way of looking at Mumbai. "There are three layers where Stephens has taken book extracts from bygone days below his aerial pictures along with the pollution measurement. We can see the past and present through his view," she said.
Patricia Galea has been in Mumbai for seven months and feels that we can't view the city like this. "These books show how people were concerned about the pollution back in 1973 and we are still at the same place. Have we done anything to prevent it? There's a lot to do about the affect we as humans have on the land we live," she said while flipping the archaic books that have been kept with a placard of 'Please Touch'.
Robert Stephens will be available in the gallery on Saturday between 12 to 4 pm to answer all queries and talk about his work. 24 of his photographs are on sale.
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