‘This is (not) Tomorrow’ . City Sabha

In March 2020, we put together a zine for a show to be hosted by The Irregulars Art Fair and Pulp Society, titled ‘This is (not) Tomorrow.’

“How do we re-write the tenets of democracy to create a more just and equitable society?

How can we re-think relationships of the human body to common perceptions of gender and society?

Can we radically alter the use of our public spaces, transportation and natural resources to ensure a more sustainable future for our planet?

Can we subvert our systems of economic distribution and think of new forms of currency?”

These were some of the questions we were asked to contend with. The result was a melange of photographs taken over two years in and around Delhi NCR. Central to its theme was the recognition of the city as a place over which we, the people, claim ownership in a myriad ways. With photographs, text, and subtext, we constantly wonder about the ways of being and the ways of seeing in our city. To align with our investigations of people’s relationship to their city, we made this zine an interactive one. It could serve as your personal city-journal.

To leave your comments or order a printed copy, write to us on connect@citysabha.org.

A Forest in the City . Sumedha Chakravarthy

Jahanpanah is a city forest in southeast Delhi. It covers about 43 acres of land, and borders a range of neighbourhoods. People cut different arcs as they walk through the forest. Joggers, strollers, yoga groups and sports teams occupy the well-laid gravel and grassy expanses. For many, it holds routes to work. Where the barbed wire ends, high and thick walls of concrete are garnished with glass shards. But the forest is not without moments of camraderie. What then might we make of this city-forest? Is it a respite from the city? Or is it another kind of urban entanglement?

Sumedha is a researcher at Sarai-CSDS, an urban and media studies lab in Delhi. She has a bachelor's degree in English Literature and a master's in comparative literature. She is interested in the lived histories and presents of postcolonial cities as they are variously experienced, constituted, and imagined. At present, her work explores how a range of media, from billboards to cinema, shape life in contemporary Indian cities.