WHEN MANJIT BAWA BROKE INTO A JIG

Anupa Mehta, the Founding Editor of ART India paints a vivid picture of the early years.

-  Anupa Mehta

Anupa Mehta. 2022.

In retrospect, my appointment as the first editor of The Art News Magazine of India was entirely serendipitous. The magazine's genesis too, to my mind, can be attributed more to chance and impulse rather than deep thought and planning.

The year was 1996. A young Sangita Jindal had initiated a multi-disciplinary art centre, Jindal Arts Creative Interaction Centre (JACIC), at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Mumbai. Given that I had a degree in Literature, and training in Journalism and Arts management, as well as an interest in the Performing arts, I was invited to oversee JACIC, under the supervision of 'Bai' Vijaya Mehta, the doyenne of Marathi theatre.

Two years in, Sangita brought up the idea of an art magazine. The hack in me rose at the opportunity. Many in the art world were sceptical. The unspoken question seemed to be: 'How could a young patron and an equally young editor, backed by a corporate house, even dream of setting up an art journal?' I took it upon myself to clarify that our vision was to bring out an 'accessible magazine' for the visual arts in India.