Mumbai, As Remembered & Illustrated By Indian Artist Rohan Bhatia

You will hear natives of Mumbai tell you that the city is more a feeling than anything else –– Bollywood will corroborate that for you.

21-year-old Rohan Bhatia from Thane belongs to this group of believers, and some of his artwork reflects the same. It is not so much about the city as it is about the people and what they make of it. After all, a city is made by its inhabitants, is it not?

Rohan says, “I have grown up in Mumbai and during junior college there were some places that I used to spend a lot of time around. Meeting people, observing how they went about their day and documenting their routine. This led me to illustrate these places as how I remembered them.”

‘Mutton Street - 400003’ and ‘Bombay CMYK’ are two pieces that intricately detail a couple of the city’s locations in all their glory –– from the diversity in people to the bustle on ground, you can feel it all. The thought that goes behind such pieces, however, is something only the artist can explain. For Rohan, it differs based on the nature of the piece.

He says, “I surround myself with pieces from my research and talk to as many people as I can about it. If I am doing something for myself, I would just take my tools and start to see where I end up. If it’s a commercial project, I would restrict myself with guidelines and timelines, invest a lot in research.”

Rohan’s art may not be an attempt to capture Mumbai, as such –– it is most likely an encapsulation of his memory and version of it. In fact, that is what lends to the beauty of it.

Find Rohan Bhatia here.

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