The Yearly Kalaghoda Festival - Part 1

nainaztengra (79)in #art • 2 days ago

It's been a few years that I have been mentioning about this festival which takes place in Mumbai city in the last week of Jan and first week of Feb. It's a festival of Arts, also along with arts there is a showcase of cultures of different parts of India. In the last few years the concept of this festival has shifted a bit, from arts now it's arts with keeping sustainability in mind.

Luckily I was in Mumbai when the festival started so I could attend. I do enjoy visiting this fest as there is lots to know and learn from this. Most of the displays done here are by the young minds and it also helps us understand how the current generation is thinking and acting. That goes without doubt to say that they are way too smarter then people from my generation and way too mindful also about usage of resources.

This year the festival was special, because it completes 25 years and hence the theme was doing everything around a horse. Basically Kalaghoda is the name of a street. 25 years back a group of people started this festival by showcasing their art work, later on this group became a non-profit organization and since then this festival has been happening every year. The word Kalaghoda is a mix of 2 words, Kala - means black and Ghoda means Horse. There is a statue of a black horse in this place. During the british rule in this place there was a statue made of King Edward VII on a black horse. Later on that statue was removed and a new statue with a similar black horse was placed here but without the statue of the king.

Let me take you through this festival. There is free entry to the festival, but this time they had a registration process, it was to keep a count on number of visitors attending the fest.

That's the black horse which I mentioned, is the permanent one here

This art work showcases the reins of change, it is about the versatility of a women in today's time, where she plays multiple roles and how day by day she is getting empowered in the society breaking all the norms of the past.

This is the depiction of the force within. In this art work we see a horse galloping between the 2 hands, it symbolized boundless energy and progress. It is about the festival, how it has faced numerous challenges over the years and yet with a lot of courage and determination the spirit has been kept alive and it has been going on.

This is a very sweet one, a car which is decorated in the form of a blackforest cake and wishing the festival a very Happy Birthday.

The name of this art is whispering stallion. It's made from PVC pipes and you can communicate from one end to another.

This was like a photo point, where people were standing between the gap and clicking pictures.

I loved this piece of art, it's made by some college students, the theme here is Half and Whole. It's a fusion of two entities which is the human and the horse and the unity between the two expressing the wildness and the civilized, the intellectual and the instinctual. The two halves coming together and becoming one whole entity. It is showing the harmony in duality.

This horse is made from all trash, which is plastic, broken pieces of glasses, waste clothes, bottle caps and such things. How this trash is contributing to pollution and putting our ecosystems in danger. The creator of this piece wants to send out a message of mindful usage and disposal of resources.