When asked at a young age what she wanted to do in life, not working at an art gallery was Atyaan Jungalwala’s reply. However, life has taken its own course and brought her into the lap of Chemould, the art gallery her grandparents Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy started and nurtured, and further nourished and grown by her mother Shireen Gandhy. There was no fixed plan for Atyaan to come to Chemould. “I just floated into it,” she says.
Growing up, Atyaan would visit the Chemould gallery, which was then housed at the Jehangir Art Gallery, after school. Later, after studying interior design and architecture at the Mumbai based ISDI School for Design and Innovation, she worked at an architect firm, UAD. After quitting her job in 2018, when she expressed her desire to work at Chemould, it felt like Shireen Gandhy’s latent wish while Atyaan was growing up came true. Though Shireen was thrilled, she was also apprehensive. ”As mother and daughter we are close and know every last thing about each other. This can be amazing but can also be difficult,” she says.
It is important to remember that Shireen has been leading Chemould since the last 25 years. The artists she works with have been with her for close to 25 years or more. “For me my work is still so relevant, my relationships with artists so sacrosanct that letting go is not easy,” says Shireen. “I am thrilled we can be there for each other when we need to, but also separate at other times,” she adds.
Shireen and Atyaan began to adjust to each other as colleagues. Atyaan started helping with the data entry. Slowly she started looking at the art work, and started writing the text that went with the art works. She was doing a bit of everything – a bit of sales, making presentations, or being the backup graphic designer. Now the art has grown on her. “In the beginning I had very low confidence whether I liked a particular work or not, and who is a good artist or not. With time I am beginning to trust my taste,” she says.
What she did know was that her spatial skills were really good. Her favorite part of the job was installing works at art fairs and exhibitions. Working with the senior artists was a bit overwhelming, with no room for her opinion. Working with younger artists, being a part of their projects and journeys was something Atyaan wanted to do.
According to Atyaan, coming to a gallery can be quite intimidating for the younger generation. She wanted to create a space where she could try and keep the vibe as casual and approachable as possible. With this in mind, Chemould CoLab was started in March 2022 in a two bedroom apartment space in Colaba, Mumbai’s art district. “It’s a gallery of its own, with its own artists and its own identity,” she says. According to Shireen, the break for Atyaan came with the realization that both of them could do things in parallel ways without stepping on each other’s toes. “With the start of CoLab there was a real sense of ownership and agency, both for the fact that her artists are her age or younger, and their work spoke to her aesthetic. There was a sense of belonging and a case of her shoes `fitting’,” says Shireen.
Chemould Colab is a space where Atyaan fosters the artists. The artists Atyaan takes under her wings are mostly those who have never had a solo show of their works, or those who have done some solo show but not with a proper gallery. According to her, some of the young artists are a little apprehensive of representation. Then there are those who are very certain of what they want – such as artists Jayeeta Chaterjee, Gurjeet Singh and Vinita Mungi, to mention a few.
The way the programme at Chemould Colab is structured is that two artists are invited by Atyaan for a residency progamme. As it’s a home, the artists live, work and stay there from May to September. After the residency, the artists work towards building up an exhibition and a solo show which will be held during the latter part of the year, or early part of the following year. Plans are to incorporate workshops so as to bring in a new audience.
Situated in the heart of Colaba, Chemould Colab is the ideal place for artists to network. When visitors drop in to the gallery during the residency, it is like having access to an artist’s studio which no one really has access to otherwise. “They see the work in progress. Then they see the work later and say, ‘oh! I saw this.’ That makes a huge difference to people’s approach,” says Atyaan. “I think that’s the best part,” she adds. According to her, it is also a nice way to get non-Indian artists to live and work here. Atyaan likes the fact that she is exposing art to new audiences, one that is young and contemporary.
According to Krupa Amin, owner of the Baroda based artist residency Space Studio, working with younger artists comes naturally to Atyaan. “She may not have wanted to be in art but it’s in her. She approaches artists naturally. She is quite suited to what she is doing,” says Amin. At present Chemould Colab is hosting a joint show with Baroda based Space Studio.
Atyaan has been very supportive and encouraging of artist Jayeeta Chatterjee over the last three years. Originally from West Bengal, artist Jayeeta Chatterjee is a print maker working on archiving the traditional arts of Bengal such as the nakshi kantha and the wood cut print. The nakshi kantha work is done on collected used saris. First she does printing work on the old sari, then adds one or two more layers of saris which are then stitched together. This was the work she did at the Chemould CoLab residency she participated in in 2023. “It was a very interactive space where we had the opportunity to meet other artists as well as art enthusiasts. We had freedom to explore our ideas. She understands the process and would give us time for our work,” says Jayeeta. “Also, the space and architecture is so beautiful, it motivated me to be productive. It is a great platform for young artists,” she adds.
As a lot of Jayeeta’s work is done sitting on the floor over the wood blocks and the saris, Atyaan would show an interest in her well-being. “She would talk about my well-being and encourage me to do yoga. I would be very comfortable talking to her about my process and works. I fully trust her vision,” she adds.
The relationship between Chemould Prescott Road and CoLab is a permeable, yet separate one. In fact, during last year’s residency Jayeeta had a large body of work which did not fit into the space at Chemould Colab, so her exhibition was held at the larger space at Chemould Prescott. “Her work was really beautiful, and it resonated with my mom as well. But it was too much body of work to fit in that space, so we had the exhibition here. It was a Chemould Colab presents Jayeeta at Chemould Prescott Road,” she says. That’s the advantage of Chemould and keeping the relationship a bit permeable, but also separate as both Shireen and Atyaan don’t want to dilute the value of senior artists like Atul Dodiya and Jitesh Kallat, amongst others, who are extremely heavy weights.
So when did she realize the history and value of what her grandparents built? “I try not to realize it,” says Atyaan. “I love the fact that I can ride on the brand value of Chemould, but I don’t want to feel the burden of it,” she adds. Shireen, of course, carries the burden of the legacy and adheres to it by commissioning books and holding exhibitions. In fact when Chemould celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, the artists at Chemould Colab responded enthusiastically for Continuum, a group show of 10 emerging artists who responded to artists from the Chemould Prescot Road stable.
There is still a lot of learning for Atyaan. She also has the advantage of running her choices past her mum. Of course, both see art differently. “I think my taste is a little more on the aesthetic side versus extremely conceptual. I do think conceptual work is important and it needs to be, but I think my eye is a little light,” she says. “I can definitely feel that I have developed an eye and a confidence of my own – knowing that this is good or not, and feeling that if my mum doesn’t like it, its fine, it’s my vibe,” she adds. Shireen is super proud of Chemould CoLab. “It’s actually thrilling that the 60 + year old Chemould has a real legacy with CoLab, and Atyaan does that so well,” she says.