Mumbai: A still picture from an exhibition currently being displayed on the walls of an upmarket design store in Kala Ghoda shows part of a metallic manhole in Charleston, South Carolina. It has a familiar combination of clean and corroded metal that you might normally associate with the thousands of manholes that you may see (r not see, really) in hundreds of cities. Displayed in a clean white frame however, there are elements of design that catch your attention, piecing through the grey.
“The detailing shows that besides the wording saying Charleston, SC, there are also design elements such as the grooved lines showing that the metal is covering a channel that is not sewage but clean water,” explains Vikas Gaitonde, legendary advertising creative director and art director, and now a brand consultant. Mr. Gaitonde has shot a number of such manhole covers on his trips to the U.S., with no special lighting and no retouching before the prints were made.
He explains that what is really striking about these covers, even to the lay viewer, and what attracted him, is the level of detail that has gone into their designing. “To create designs like this, with the thin lines and the perfect Helvetica font, you need to involve a graphic designer, with whom the alloyer and caster have to work in tandem.”
What really struck him about these covers, and prompted him to started photographing them about three years ago on visits to the US, was the amount of attention that went into creating something so ubiquitous in a city’s urban furniture. In the other images that are part of the collection, the colours vary, and sometimes the letters may just be the name of the city or the foundry. Yet, all showcase the same meticulous focus on detail, with care even being taken, in some cases, to lay bricks around the manhole cover in specific patterns to enhance its aesthetic value. “I want, in particular, our government to see images like these, because I think ideas like Swachh Bharat should start from here. With this kind of attention to detail.”
The exhibition, just eight frames, will be on display till the end of August in the Filter store in Kala Ghoda. Proceeds from their sale will go to the Salaam Bombay Foundation, an organisation that works with over 50,000 children from Mumbai’s slum area and helps them developer critical life skills and encourages them to stay in school.
Next up for Mr. Gaitonde is a similar project in the US, where he will shoot windows and doorways, once again showcasing the extraordinary design in what we perceive to be regular.
Manhole Covers, USA, a series of limited-edition prints of 4 of each image on exhibition and sale at Filter, 43 V.B. Gandhi Marg, Kala Ghoda.
