The current ‘Stairwell Series’ are a departure from the horizontal to the vertical aspects of buildings and spaces. Documented from structures primarily around Bombay, the ambiguous identity of the place creates a sense of déjà vu in the colonial leftovers in the city.

Shroff defines these landings as holdings of timelines that are beyond visual memories of documentation. These are areas that become readings into social habits and methods of living and occupation. The top floor of these buildings that are starkly different from the remaining resting points of the stairwells, are also the least accessible floors. This observed documentation suggests the patterns of land ownership and authority, wherein negation builds itself into the drawings as earlier mentioned empty spaces. Details and the number of floors in each work, end abruptly when the artist hits a point of no access. These translate into blank spaces of fictional expansion.

From the essay ‘Folly Measures’, written by Veeranganakumari Solanki, 
Courtesy TARQ and Vishwa Shroff
Copyrights @vishwashroff2019

Bombay Stairwell Series, 3, 2019
Watercolour and ink on paper
18.7 x 13.8 inches (each)