From coins to maps: This Mumbai art exhibition showcases a journey through time

Our City: Regenerating Hope, 2021, by Tushar and Mayur Vayeda

Journeys can be transformative, reflective and even, inspiring. For Sarmaya founder Paul Abraham, it has proven to be an adventure. Having set up Sarmaya as a digital archive in 2015, the curator has now opened 2025 with the first exhibition at the 146-year-old heritage building of Lawrence & Mayo in Fort. Titled High Roads, Open Seas, the exhibition is a mirror of the museum's own journey, he shares. "Sarmaya was born from a desire to tell the stories about India that typically lay hidden in the vaults of the archive," Abraham says.

A Cancer Zodiac, silver rupee of Ahmedabad mint by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir was part of 12 coin designs that went against the then orthodoxy. Pics Courtesy/Sarmaya Arts Foundation

This is the first of three distinct exhibitions that will project the museum's evolutionary journey. As the title suggests, High Seas, Open Roads, deals with the theme of travel. The exhibition is sequestered in eight genres from coins, maps, etchings and engravings, rare books, indigenous art, contemporary art and pre-modern art. These works were put together in a curation by the in-house team.

A visitor at the exhibition

From the controversial zodiac coins of Mughal Emperor Jahangir - so named for the zodiac sign replacing the month on the coins - to the Warli artworks of Mayur and Tushar Vayeda capturing the heart of Mumbai, these pieces reflect the flow of art through time and cultures. "In addition to these, the exhibition will also be accompanied by digital storytelling through the works of city poets like Namdeo Dhasal, and videos offering a glimpse into the vision of the artists that will complement the experience," Abraham adds.

Paul Abraham

TILL February 15; 10 am to 5 pm (Tuesday to Sunday)
AT Sarmaya Arts Foundation, second floor, Lawrence & Mayo Building, Kala Ghoda, Fort.