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.
Seventy-One Percent
May 2015
SO2 - 11 ug / m3
NOx - 24 ug / m3
RSPM ??? 71 ug / m3
"Better Housing! The recent official figures given by the Municipal Commissioner of Bombay are so staggering that they could be unbelievable if they came from a lesser authority. Seventy-one percent of the tenements of Bombay City consist of single rooms; the average number of persons in these rooms is far above the overall figure of ten, and 'there are cases in my knowledge where as many as thirty and forty persons are supposed to occupy the same room.'
Exploited by the moneylender in his own village ??? and the problem of agricultural debt is baffling; exploited by the jobber and the sirdar in the mill; divorced from any real contact with the employer andliving under these wretched conditions, the industrial proletariat is meat for the intriguer, whether he be a communist or a revolutionary. It is not so much a question of low wages, these have grown out of all proportion to output; but of the simplest elements of a decent life. The tasks which confront the independent Government of India are vast beyond comprehension, and this is the most urgent of all. Unless rapid progress is made in provision for the elementary needs of the industrial army the foundations of Indian society may well be shaken beyond repair."
The India I Knew
Sir Stanley Reed
1952
Page 138-139
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.