Cinematic Debut

Small wonder the artist chose to dedicate his debut exhibition in India,at Mumbai’s Chatterjee & Lal gallery,Radio Club,to Hindi cinema. Indian films remained his only contact with his roots for years as he moved from Kenya to London and now,Australia. The exibition opens on Tuesday.

The Kenya-born painter began his career as an art teacher and backroom painter in London after graduating from the London University in 1990. “When I tried to show my work,it didn’t happen because of racism. I was told that if I wanted to show,I should go to the Black Arts Gallery,London. I didn’t want to be slotted as Black since I’m an Asian and I did not want a tokenistic gesture in a group show. So I painted in oils in my backroom and taught for a living,” says the 44-year-old painter.

The Sydney-based artist’s earlier works did not have any direct reference to his Indian origin,unlike the present show titled A Lack of Marmalade was my only Complaint. It showcases collages of old Hindi film posters,juxtaposed with self portraits. “I wanted to trace my journey from being an ‘outsider’ to ‘insider’. The Marmalade refers to British Colonialism that drove migrant families from India to Africa and then to London,where one was always seen as an outsider,” recalls Natalwala of his childhood.

“That is why I have placed my self-portraits as various foreign heroes whom I idolised as a boy,with images from Hindi cinema that was a staple diet for my family,” says Natalwala. His deep love and respect for western icons like David Bowie,Mohommed Ali and Steve McQueen has led him to cast himself as these characters in the collages. The exhibits are a fine blend of painting,collage and Photoshop.

“These works have also emerged from my shift to Sydney. London was grey and didn’t inspire colourful works. After I moved to Australia,I began painting,but it just wasn’t working. That’s when,I started playing around with collage,” Natalwala recalls. The artist,who has dreamt of showing in India for many years,would continue to follow this trajectory of doing collage work,though he might “give in to the itch to paint”.