Aam Artist Gallery: Signatures of Koli families of Madh Island.
Every basket, crate, sack, and sheets (used to dry fish) by the families of the Koli or the fishing community that live and work in Mumbai's villages carry a signature. They are not just names or initials, they also have symbols that set them apart and give them individuality.
They are big, bright and can be seen from a distance. It should be noted that there is another group or community that uses similar signatures in Mumbai and they are the transgenders or Hijra community and they prefer to use floral signatures. Here, have a look at the wonderful world of these family signatures from one fishing village that we hope will not be swallowed by the Coastal Road and converted into a slum as development surrounds it.
The family basket.
The families that continue to fish traditionally with smaller boats prefer baskets. The day's catch is transferred to baskets before they are sorted and sold. The catch is mostly small and peppered with plastic. It's a rich assortment of smaller fish and crustaceans. There are quite a few eels too and the lucky ones manage to escape.
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| An eel that escaped. |
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| The catch is ready to be sorted. The women who are sorting belong to a Telugu speaking community and are related to the Telugu speaking workers who work on the larger fishing boats. |
Signature home: The tiger house of Madh island.
The art is not restricted to the crates or baskets of even boats. For example, when you are fisherman working long hours in the sea with the endless horizon stretching on all sides, homecoming should be beautiful. Maybe that is why this house is painted this way.
The door of a home in the village. Quite a few of the Kolis and the workers who are telugu speakers from the east coast are Christians.
Here is an entrance to on of the mohallas or narrow streets within the village with an identity marker.
Flags and T shirt
The flags identify one of the other major community that lives and works here: the Kolis who speak Gujarati.
Back to the crates and baskets with signatures:
Maybe not all crates are named after families but boats or a collective. This one is called Divya Dutta, the name of a film actress. Is the boat named after her?
The baskets
The first people you encounter when you get down at the bus stop to Madh Village (there are regular buses to Malad) are the basket makers. In the age of plastic crates, they still work day and night. The first signatures where probably marked with tar on these baskets.
That's all for now. These are the beautiful signatures of the families of the Kolis who live and work in Madh. If you visit the village, I have to warn you that you will will coated with the signature smell of Mumbai, the dry bombil or Bombay Duck and you will need a lovely bath like these people who work on the boats that go out to fish from Madh.
I had gone to Madh accompanying a friend and photographer from Bangalore - Hari Adivarekar. After our trip to the village, we took the metro train. Hari got off at Andheri and I took the train to Ghatkopar. People around me were sniffing and wondering where the smell of dry fish or bombil was coming from.
