Mumbai North is a collection black and white - photographs taken 15,000 ft above sea level between December 2014 and November 2015 of Mumbai's suburbs by photographer Robert D Stephens.
After the success of his two previous exhibitions, 'Mumbai Articles' (2014) and 'Madras Transit' (Aug 2015) were, Stephens offers an alternate lens into the urban geography, landscape and sprawl of the city's suburbs with Mumbai North.
One of the unique aspects of this photograph is that it is accompanied by a record of air pollution levels on the corresponding day, as measured by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board as well as extracts from antiquarian books related to Mumbai, dating back to the late 1800s.
Bandra Jackals
May 2015
SO2 - 10 ug / m3
NOx - 23 ug / m3
RSPM ??? 73 ug / m3
"The growth of the principal cities where the Briton mostly dwells drove them farther afield; where generations took their morning ride on the sands of the western foreshore ofBombay is now a serried array of four-and five-storeyed flats; where the Jackal Club had its cold-weather camp in the adjacent island of Salsette are new colonies of middle-class dwellers. The expansion of the cities is phenomenal....Bombay, crowdedwith a population of a million and a quarter, has more than two millions within the civic boundaries, and there has not been a development of building proportionate to this growth."
The India I Knew
Sir Stanley Reed
1952
Page 141-142
Robert D. Stephens is a Principal at RMA Architects, Mumbai. His passions include the art of building and constructing beauty through visual, literary, and cinematic imagery. In 2013 he co-produced a feature film with India's first You Tube star, Wilbur Sargunaraj, entitled "Simple Superstar".
About Mumbai North
Aerial Photographs of Mumbai's Suburbs by Robert D. Stephens
Click links below to see his other collections:
Mumbai Articles Madras Transit After the success of Mumbai Articles, Stephen's contemporary black and white, aerial photographs of Mumbai city, photographer Robert D Stephens turns his attentions to the surburbs of Mumbai. This January, he brings us Mumbai North, an urban portrait collection of suburban geography, featuring black and white photographs taken 15,000 ft above sea level between December 2014 and November 2015. Suburbs documented range from Nalasopara to Bhiwandi, Vikhroli to Aarey Colony, Bandra to Kandivali, and more.