Change implies replacing the old with a new order – erasures and overwriting. Society in general and cities particularly have seen very rapid changes in the past decade. Mumbai especially seems to be in a hurry to transform almost every aspect of its being.

Anjali Purohit, an artist, writer and poet living in Mumbai, has been witness to the sad history of this metropolis for the past forty years; witness to some of the erasures effected during the course of this metamorphosis and also to the palimpsest that it leaves behind. Most of her work – both in words and in paint – reflect her exploration of her relation with this her mutating homeland, her ‘watan’ where she tries to capture its bylanes, cafes, mills, behemoths, chawls, chimneys, alleys, staircases, corridors and doorways not only because they are part of personal as well as collective memory but also because they have symbolized, defined and shaped the complexion of Mumbai, the warp and weft of the social fabric of this city and the character and spirit of its people.

 Recording Erasures: Reflecting Memory will attempt to explore this archival memory through the work and poetry of the writer/painter and to examine how such memory (palimpsest), despite attempts at erasures, still holds relevance, significance and validation without which, perhaps, our lives, to that extent, remain poorer.