Mumbai: A City Through Objects by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta

Mumbai: A City Through Objects by Tasneem Zakaria Mehta

On 2nd May 2022 the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum celebrates the 150 anniversary of the opening of the Museum at the present site in Byculla. On the same day in 1872, the prominent merchants and citizens of Bombay along with the officers from the British Indian army, navy, and civil services came together in the suburb of Byculla for the opening ceremony of the first Museum to be established in the Bombay Presidency. As India celebrates 75 years of Independence, we mark 150 years since the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum opened to the public for the first time. Formerly known as the Victoria and Albert Museum, Bombay, the Museum building was conceived as a “Hall of Wonder” by its founders Dr. Bhau Daji Lad and Dr. George Birdwood. Mumbai – A City Through Objects, edited by the Museum’s Director Tasneem Zakaria Mehta and co-published by Harper Design tells the story of the city and the evolution of the Museum through a selection of a hundred and one unique objects in the collection of the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum. The city and the Museum developed together, each inflecting the other's evolution. Like all great global cities, Mumbai has an extraordinary history which many writers have explored. No one has, however, interpreted the city through its artefacts, and the objects that were produced by its many craftsmen, which bespeak the efforts of the many ordinary people who participated as much as its great heroes in its making. The stories interweave and encourage a reading of the objects from a post-colonial perspective. As readers turn the pages, people, periods, and practices that have defined Mumbai’s sociocultural character and the scope of the Museum’s collection come alive. Like the city, the Museum too has experienced a metamorphosis. It won UNESCO's 2005 Asia Pacific Award of Excellence for comprehensive conservation and revitalization of the Museum building and has pioneered contemporary art exhibitions that are presented in the historic space as a rebuttal to colonial exclusionary politics.

It has won many awards for its achievements and is recognized as a leader among museums in India. The Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum has become an important landmark in the city and has been acknowledged as one of the best places to visit in Mumbai by the New York Times, the Washington Post, and several other international media as well as by important tourist information sites and many important visitors. The people of Mumbai have also greatly appreciated the efforts to create an institution of excellence that not only showcases the art and culture of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency but also encourages aesthetic articulation and contemporary creative practice that is thoughtful and innovative.

Date 23-05-2022