Chemould Prescott Road: Mumbai's Oldest Gallery Celebrates 60 Years with Year-Long Exhibition Series

Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai's oldest gallery, marks its 60th anniversary with a three-part exhibition series running through 2024. Founded in 1963 by Kekoo and Khorshed Gandhy, the gallery began as a frame shop and became a cornerstone for modern and contemporary Indian art, championing the Bombay Progressive Artists' Group. The series, curated from over two years of archival research, opened with 'Framing' (Sept 15–Oct 22, 2023), featuring artists like Mithu Sen, Atul Dodiya, and Varunika Saraf, who explored the gallery's activist history. Photos show the Gandhys involved in 1990s protests against right-wing governments. Director Shireen Gandhy (daughter of Kekoo) notes the need for cultural professionals to be more creative in conveying messages under political pressure. Current exhibition 'Drawing Dreaming' (until April 27, 2024) presents Pallavi Sen's watercolors blending daily life with Indian miniature painting geometries. From April 6, 'Kaarawaan and other stories' by Gulam Mohammed Sheikh merges personal and collective memory across cultures and time. The gallery has launched a second Mumbai space in 2022 for emerging artists and a residency program. It has organized institutional retrospectives for Jitish Kallat, NS Harsha, and Mehlli Gobhai, and promoted feminist voices like Pushpamala N and Shakuntala Kulkarni.