Museum. Exhibition. Backyard. Chennai

Researched and conceptualised in 2008 and set in the backdrop of the 90’s globalisation, this visual volume documents the conflicts and contradictions that are part of transforming the City of Chennai.

What we call a ‘city’ is made up of many different representations and imaginations of those who inhabit it. There is a constant negotiation of these imaginations. Amidst globalisation, there is also a power at play with the City imagined and the City inhabited. This visual volume is an understanding of this politics of City making.

The book is a collage of the City of Chennai. We documented the then cultural landscape of the city seen through the lenses of Museum, Exhibition, and Backyard. The book is a collection of visuals viz., everyday practices and aspirations alongside the form of a city, changing food patterns and their geographies, and also documents the history of Chennai through the Buckingham Canal.

In spite of being a decade-old study, its reflections are more exaggerated on the streets of Chennai today.