Eastern Waterfront of Mumbai –
The Built Environment and Documentary Strategies

Photographieworkshop am Goethe Institut Mumbai
vom 04. bis 09. August 2008

Der Workshop Eastern Waterfront Mumbai – The Built Environment and Documentary Strategies richtete sich an Künstler, Photographen, fortgeschrittene Studenten der Photographie, Bildjournalisten, Medienkünstler, Umweltjournalisten.

"A lot has been written and debated on merits of the Eastern Waterfront project study and to present it in a visual form was most challenging task for me. The opportunity came in the form of a photography workshop on Mumbai's Eastern Waterfront, conducted by the German photographer Kai-Olaf Hesse under aegis of the Goethe Institute.

Study of Mumbai's Eastern Waterfront was carried out by Design cell of the Kamala RahejaVidyandhi institute of Architecture (KRVIA) and Design Research Institute (UDRI) in Mumbai. The objective of the study, in a nutshell, is regeneration of the Port and Dock lands of the Island city of Mumbai. Mumbai port trust owns a huge chunk of land spread over 1800 acres of container docks, warehouses, and ship-repairing yards. The plan is to develop these vast stretches of underutilized land harbouring the eastern waterfront, which would showcase Mumbai into a world-class city.

While I was exploring theEastern Waterfront with my camera few questions popped up in my mind. If at all the Eastern Waterfront developments actually takes place then what would be its impact on the ecological front and displacement of man power and their livelihood. On the fringes of the waterfront from New Mumbai to Sewri we have vast stretches of areas under mangroves. At no cost can we afford to destroy these mangroves, which act as a buffer against the onslaught of tidal waves and tsunami in future. It also acts as huge water holding land that protects the city from flooding, besides serving as greenery spots and helping reduce air pollution.

Then we have the fishing villages and the salt pan owners located on the fringes of water front in Trombay, New Mumbai and Sewri, whose livelihood comes from the sea, so what impact the development would have on these poor people? We have heavy industries like Nuclear Power, fertilizers, oil refineries spread over areas from Trombay to Sewri, not to talk about huge restricted areas that come under the Navy down south, it would be a monumental task relocating them.

Further south we have containers yards, warehouses, and docks belonging to the Mumbai Port trust. Then we have any number of smallscale units and scarp dealers, which generate employment opportunities to the locals staying around Darukhana, Mazgaon and other areas. The study must include a plan to rehabilitate the locals. I also came across lot of land encroachment with rows of slums lining the streets of Mazgaon and other places. I am not against development but it's ecological impact and displacement of locals must be borne in mind.

During this one week of photography workshop, German photographer Kai-Olaf Hesse gave us some wonderful insight in the working mind of photographers, making us look at critical aspects of our work in terms of artistic form and photojournalism. I must confess I was extremely impressed by the commitment shown by all the photographers shooting for long hours over three days on the Eastern Waterfront braving the torrential rains. Despite the various problems and hurdles faced by the photographers shooting in restricted areas where photography is prohibited, the photographers came out with fairly good collections of photos. The top class facility provided by the Goethe Institute for the workshop for which we are grateful to the director Dr Marla Stukenberg and its staff members. And above all the warmth and bonhomie atmosphere prevalent among the photographers during one week of workshop made us feel like one large family. I think one week of photography workshop was too short a duration to cover the entire stretch of 30 km of Eastern shoreline and for tackling such vital subjects as Eastern Waterfront, perhaps I hope we will have more of such workshop in the near future."
Rajen Nair


Teilnehmer:

Desmond Roberts, Photograph, Filmemacher

Raj Lalwani

Rajen Nair, Bildjournalist

Rajesh Vora, Photograph

Zubin Pastakia, Photograph

Alok Brahmbhatt, Editor, Redakteur

Sohrab Davar

Rustom Davar


Links:

Goethe-Institut Mumbai

Urban Design Research Institute Mumbai

Time Out Mumbai