Professional work in conjunction with the Living Waters Museum | Project Coordinator and lead Curator of Confluence | India 2020-21
Confluence captures Mumbai’s multifaceted relationship with water from the Mithi River to the shores of the Arabian Sea, from wells and tanks governed by cultural practices to the fishing communities of Mumbai struggling to retain their livelihoods, from the tanker economy servicing high-rise apartments to the everyday water vulnerabilities faced by informal settlements dotting the cityscape. In a year marked by a global pandemic, more than 40 professionals - artists, conservation architects, photographers, designers, social scientists and urban planners - came together to launch the Mumbai Water Narratives. They documented Mumbai’s water journey from heritage to public health, through storytelling, new media design, digital technology and the arts. Confluence, their first virtual exhibition, is supported by the Living Waters Museum, a member of the Global Network of Water Museums, endorsed by UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Hydrological Program as a special initiative to address Sustainable Development Goal 6 on Water through public education. I was responsible for germinating, executing and coordinating Mumbai Water Narratives as a part of Living Waters Museum, since its inception. I was one of the core curators for the virtual exhibition, and was part of several event panels. Particularly, in response to a public health crisis, I investigated how past epidemics in Bombay, and the current water inequity has shaped our disaster management response to the pandemic.
The virtual exhibition confluence can be found for the year 2021 at https://confluence.livingwatersmuseum.org/. The Mumbai Water Narratives Team can be reached at mumbaiwaternarratives@gmail.com for future collaborations. The growing collective hopes to conduct annual exhibitions, and intervene in changemaking by getting involved in state procedures, activism and information dissemination.
Credits: Ipshita Karmakar, Dr. Sara Ahmed, Dr.Basia Irland