A MILL BY THE SEA - pallonimages.com MILL BY THE SEA_Pallon.pdf · My interior-decorator friend Shernie had commissioned Pallon Daruwala and these were his images. Towards the end

A M I L L B Y T H E S E A

P A L L O N D A R U W A L A

I first met Pallon Daruwala in 2002, at a showing of his work in Bangalore. I remember the work, black and white images of interiors and still-lives, printed with remarkable sensitivity, in the most fragile, delicate tones… on a paper that had a sensual, tactile,

handmade quality… and I was struck with amazement that I had accidentally just walked into the work of a master craftsman, a fine printer of black and white - the most rare and elusive of all creatures in the universe of photography that I inhabited. I was at that time in the process of moving to Bangalore and deeply saddened that the printer I had worked with for the past 8 years was going to remain behind in Delhi. So confronting these images on that Bangalore afternoon was a near revelation. I immediately sought out the maker to find out more about these beautiful prints and that’s when I met Pallon and he told me that they were digital prints, done on an inkjet machine sitting on his desktop.

My first response of course was disbelief. Where I came from ‘digital’ was a dirty word… part of a new age, instant

gratification photo culture, which was pure anathema to someone who had honed his craft in the wet darkroom, taking days, sometimes weeks to perfect a single print. But whatever my training or background, there was no getting away from the wholesome yet fragile beauty of what was spread out before me… and that afternoon I believe was a turning point for the way I was going to think of a photographic image… and I have Pallon to thank for that.

Over the years as I got more and more involved with the digital universe, (much to the disappointment of many peers and fellow purists who considered my move to be a betrayal of all things pure in photography) Pallon remained a friend and helped me to hone my new craft. And I followed his work with great interest and enthusiasm, especially in the territory of architectural photography in which he excels. Using the dynamic play of light and darkness to create landscapes of form, Pallon’s work though always informed by a strong graphic and formal quality, is more about the spirit of the space than the space itself.

His new exhibition, “A Mill by the Sea” is testimony to that.

Mukesh Mills has a curious history since its devastation in a fire years ago, that makes it a very special place, especially for a photographer with leanings towards spaces and their interpretation. Normally a space is inhabited… Mukesh Mills has no inhabitants…since the fire, it has lain unused for the purpose that it was created. Sometime in the early nineties, its rotting, ravaged walls and surreal, post apocalyptic atmosphere, caught the attention of certain image makers, primarily from Bollywood, and the fashion industry, who discovered that they could use the space to make it whatever they wanted… a kind of fantastic wasteland waiting to be transformed into Disneyland. A dab of paint here and there, some fake graffiti and it became the background for a music video. A large open space facing the sea with the mill ramparts breaking the horizon, became the setting for a fashion shoot. With a few fake facades and a crane or two it became the setting for a scene of war devastation… or a horror movie…and so on. In other words Mukesh Mills became a space without its own

character… its personality at any time defined by whoever was occupying it and the reason for the occupation became the face of the space, albeit temporarily.

It is this ephemeral nature of the space that is the subject of Pallon’s work. Dabs of fresh paint occupy vast areas of desolate devastation… traces of its intrinsic character conflict with its newly assigned ones, disappearing soon to give way to new ones… creating a new vocabulary of occupation, a sort of metaphor for the times we live in… a lover’s graffiti on the walls of a historical edifice…

With his unerring eye for telling detail, and his delectable sense of colour, Pallon gives us a glimpse into the life of an old mill by the sea… after it ceased to be a mill.

Prabuddha DasguptaPhotographer

Fortunately the façade still exists and has been shot as a background by almost every Bollywood and ad film producer in Mumbai. The beauty of the crumbling façade has been further livened by Pallon’s vision of the space. The play of light & shade, the juxtapose of colours, the strong & dynamic compositions all coming harmoniously together. These images of the Mukesh Mill, delves into the journey of my life. The play of shadow and light through the crumbling structures mesmerize you. These old pillars are like one’s ambitions, still standing strong reaching skywards. Our deeds stack up like the lofty chimney. Our very shell is but an illusion, if we are not as strong as these century old exposed bricks. The long corridors remind you that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, however intense the darkness may be.

Mukesh Mills represented the glory days of technology in India …Pallon’s images restore that glory.

S N Agarwal(Chairman)

Bhoruka Power Corporation LimitedBangalore

I t was about six years ago that I was given a package of a dozen or so, 8x10 photographs to have a look at. They were striking images, beautifully composed and printed, of a warm residence. It was a space that I was only too familiar with, but could not recognize for a few seconds. Then it struck me that these were pictures of

my own home! My interior-decorator friend Shernie had commissioned Pallon Daruwala and these were his images.

Towards the end of last year I received another set of photographs, this time from Pallon himself. Once again the pictures looked very familiar and I was overcome with nostalgia; they were stunning images of the Mukesh Textile Mills at Colaba in Mumbai.

This was the first textile mill built by the British in India in the 1870’s. It is also the only mill in south Mumbai, and the only one by the sea. The large private dock is where boats came to unload bales of cotton and load yards finished cloth. These were ferried to the larger ships that were in outer anchorage in the Arabian Sea. I see not just the structures, but the Mill with life the way it was in full production, even before it came into our possession from 1975. The hundreds of men and women going about their daily chores, the clacking of bobbins in their looms, smoke billowing out of the tall chimney stack, sea-gulls gliding aimlessly above… And then all fell silent one day, in its unfortunate destruction in 1982.

01Image size 13.33” x 20”Paper size 17” x 24”Edition 5



04Image size 20” x 13.33” Paper size 24” x 17”Edition 5




08Image size 30” x 20”Paper size 34” x 24”Edition 5







15Image size 20” x 13.33”Paper size 24” x 17”Edition 5






















Pallon Daruwala’s career over the last twenty-two years has covered the entire gamut of subjects and objects. A student of the reputed Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara

(USA), Pallon has worked in India since 1986.

His work has been featured in international publications such as Travel & Leisure (New York), Wallpaper, DestinAsian (Indonesia), Business Traveler (Hong Kong) and Time, and in local publications such as the Taj Magazine, Jet Wings, and most architecture & design related magazines.

His images have also been published in books including The Guide to Home Decorating Indian Style (Mapin), NIGHT FEVER – Interior Design for Bars & Clubs (Frame Birkhauser), BON APPETIT – Restaurant Guide (Frame Birkhauser) and Indian Design (Daab).

Pallon is the first Indian member of the IAAP (International Association of Architectural Photographers). He has a special relationship with Epson, consulting with them to push the envelope of what is possible with special papers and printing techniques.

After living in Mumbai for five years and working with some of the finest creative minds in advertising, graphic design and architecture, Pallon relocated to Bangalore where he now lives.

A Mill by the Sea, a series of 36 works, are signed limited-edition prints. They are in editions of 5, and have been printed on acid-free, archival quality, textured fine art paper using UltraChrome K3 pigmented inks. Due to their light-safe qualities prints such as these are the new medium of choice for museums and collectors the world over.

369, Dr Dadabhai Naoroji Road, Mumbai 400 001 India.+91 22 22841837 • [email protected]

A MILL BY THE SEA - pallonimages.com MILL BY THE SEA_Pallon.pdf · My interior-decorator friend Shernie had commissioned Pallon Daruwala and these were his images. Towards the end

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