Kumbharwada Pottery Production (Cultural Documentation)
Gilchrist, Scott
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Date
2014Description
Lumps of prepared clay sitting with finished terra cotta fired vessels and flower pots along an alley; The Kumbhars (Kumbars) of Mumbai came from Saurashtra to Bombay in 1877 when their Gujarati region was ravaged by drought and set up their kilns in an area in south Bombay. But as the city grew, the Kumbhars were pushed further north. So they were relocated to Sion, on the northern edge of the island city. But again the land on which they set up shop was needed (for a British army camp). So they were relocated, this time to the edge of the island city, close to a swamp that is the Dharavi slum today. Kumbharwada, where a community of potters from Gujarat has lived since 1932, has a distinct personality of its own. All the houses accommodate the potter’s wheel and a group of houses open out into an open space where there is a shared kiln for firing the pots. Kumbharwada occupies twelve and a half acres of prime property in Dharavi; over 250 potters work there. Source: Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (accessed 8/30/2015)
Type of Work
photographSubject
business, commerce and trade, decorative arts, traditional handcrafts, ceramics, pottery, Twenty-first century
Rights
Rights Statement
Licensed for educational and research use by the MIT community only