RVA Mag

Richmond, VA Culture & Politics Since 2005

Menu

Mother India at Gallery 5 Gives a Socially Distanced Taste of Indian Culture

|

Topics: , , , , , , ,

With this year’s pandemic edition of Mother India, Gallery 5 brings the art of India to its windows for the perfect socially distanced outdoor exhibition.

Gallery 5’s month-long Mother India exhibit is back for its second year this October — but with a difference.

The gallery, located at 200 W. Marshall St, is hosting the exhibit so that it can be viewed entirely from outside the building, allowing viewers to experience the art while socially distancing outdoors. 

This year’s exhibit is made up entirely of photographs. Only some of the photographs featured in the exhibit are up in the gallery windows. The rest are part of a digital collection which will be released Friday, Oct. 23. 

Photo by Prabir Mehta, via Gallery 5

Prabir Mehta, a musician and photographer who emigrated from India as a young child, is the curator of the Mother India exhibit. 

When Mehta found himself unable to visit his family in the state of Gujarat, India this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he decided to ask photographers who lived there to submit pictures of the places he missed so much to Gallery 5’s exhibit.

“Instead of only being bummed about it, I opted to reach out to folks I know in India,” Mehta said, “and I was able to bring their art to Richmond for this art show.”

The exhibit includes photographs of Indian street scenes, people, and landscapes. 

“It’s hard to take a bad photo in India,” Mehta said. “It’s just such a beautiful place. The vibrant layout of the land, the animals, the colors of the clothing, the food, the hustle-bustle of non-stop traffic. You see things that are literally thousands of years old, right next to a brand new Starbucks.”

The 2019 Mother India exhibit was in person and was mainly focused on the Indian community in Richmond. The 2020 exhibit includes Indian artists living both in India and in Richmond. It will run for the rest of October until it is taken down on Nov. 1. 

A few of Mehta’s own photos are on display in the exhibit, but he says that the focus of the exhibit this year will be mainly on artists living in India. 

Paintng by Ankar Zalawadia, via Gallery 5

Ankar Zalawadia, an Indian watercolor artist who illustrates Gujarat street scenes, will have his paintings on display in the exhibit.

The exhibit also includes photos of ceramics by Richmond artist Ruchi Gupta. Last year Gupta’s ceramic plates were hung up on walls, allowing people walking through the gallery to observe them up close, but this year that’s not possible. 

The exhibit being visible from the outside, however, does have its benefits.

“It’s nice that it’s up on display for people who maybe weren’t expecting to see it,” Mehta said. “It’s adding a little bit of color, it’s adding a little bit of culture, to what’s been a very slow and quiet neighborhood for the past six months.”

Mehta says that he hopes the exhibit will help people who have family in India to get a taste of the culture they’re missing out on due to travel restrictions.

“There are a lot of Indian people in Richmond who are missing ties to that culture because they can’t travel,” Mehta said, “so that was an opportunity to bring some of that culture safely for them to check out as they stroll past the Gallery 5 windows.”

Photo by Kalpit Bhachech, via Gallery 5

The Gallery 5K, sponsored by Gallery 5, is also happening this weekend. Indian architect Amrit Singh curated the route around Richmond, which shows participants interesting points of Richmond architecture. The route can either be run or walked, and is sidewalk-accessible for those in wheelchairs, according to Mehta. 

In lieu of the snacks offered at the gallery last year, an Indian cooking demonstration will be featured on Gallery 5’s Patreon. Viewers will learn to make Bhaji Pav, an Indian vegan fast-food dish of vegetable curry with a bread roll. The demonstration will be given by Mehta’s mother– or, as he calls her, ‘the ultimate Mother India.’ 

Top Photo via Gallery 5

Operation Fix It ‘Rolls’ Out Relief for Richmond’s Homeless

|

Topics: , , , , , ,

A trifecta of Richmond-area business have teamed up to make a sizeable donation of basic household items to homelessness support organization HomeAgain.

Recently, three Richmond-area businesses joined forces to create “Operation Fix It” — a small business initiative that organized a donation of over 1,000 rolls of paper towels to a local shelter.

HomeAgain is a Richmond-based organization that helps families and individuals experiencing homelessness secure and maintain housing.  Paper towels, along with other basic household items, are usually budgeted items that HomeAgain pays for out of pocket. But 91 cents of every dollar donated to the organization goes directly to their housing programs, so every donation they receive helps them focus on funding those programs.

Lorae Ponder, HomeAgain’s executive director, said the generosity of the donation will have a sizeable impact on the organization’s day-to-day operations.

“Although 1,000 rolls of toilet paper may seem like something trivial to the average Richmonder,” Ponder said, “it’s not something people experiencing homelessness take for granted. We couldn’t be more thankful for this generous donation.”

In 2018, HomeAgain provided housing to 768 men, women, children, seniors, and veterans. 74% of individuals exited HomeAgain services directly into stable, affordable housing.

Operation Fix It was created by the partnership of the Linchpin Real Estate Group, Ambrose Chiropractic, and The Great Big Everything (TGBE). TGBE is a creative consulting group geared towards creating futures for nonprofits and community organizations.

Prabir Mehta, owner of TGBE, said the organization hopes the efforts of Operation Fix It become a yearly event.

“The dream is to get enough small businesses together to help some of our nonprofits feel less stressed about some of their day-to-day needs,” Mehta said, “so they can focus on doing what they do best – serving their missions.”

For more information on The Great Big Everything’s efforts, visit their website or follow them on facebook.

Photo courtesy The Great Big Everything

The Sights And Sounds Of India

|

Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mother India brings what curator Prabir Mehta calls “a vast but representative picture of what India offers” to Gallery 5 tonight.

“Get out of my way, you don’t belong here!” Those were the words Prabir Mehta heard while walking through the aisles of the Kroger on Lombardy St, after being rammed with a grocery cart. Mehta, born and raised in India, first came to the United States with his family in 1988 and has been a Richmond local ever since. But unfortunately, incidents like these have been a constant in Mehta’s life since he arrived in the River City.

In an effort to combat these social injustices and emphasize the importance of cultural diversity, Mehta has organized and curated the first all-Indian group art show Richmond has seen. Entitled Mother India, it opens this Friday at Gallery 5, and will feature several Indian artists and performers showcasing photography, art, and contemporary and classical dance/music.

Mehta, who co-founded Gallery 5 back in 2005, has been curating and planning this event for the better part of a year now. “I’ve had my feelers out for about a year to curate a very vast but representative picture of what I think India offers that world,” he said.

Opening night will kick off at 7 PM and feature several performers over the course of the evening. Kicking off the party are two classical Indian musicians, carantic vocalist Sri Parupalli Satyanarayana, and Mridangam drum player Sri Parupalli Balasubramaniam. Mehta said that booking the well-known Indian duo was a stroke of luck since they just happened to be on tour in the states for the past few weeks.

Prabir Trio. Photo via Facebook

Others performers over the course of the evening will include classical dancer Rujuta Pandya, contemporary musicians Nitin Joshi group, and even Mehta himself, leading his Indian-inspired rock group, Prabir Trio. The night ends with an explosion of Indian beats by DJ Carlito, who will be hosting a Bollywood dance party.

Throughout the night, a wide array of art pieces will be showcased, either created by Indian artists or inspired by India itself. The gallery room will include everything from traditional illustrations of Hindu deities to contemporary pop art, as well as astrophotography and photos of the bustling street life in India. Artists with work in the show include Madhup Rathi, Dhruti Rathi, David Kenedy, and Ruchi Gupta.

Mehta said that the Indian community and Indian businesses of Richmond that really made this event possible. Local Indian businesses like Nama, Veracity Consulting, and the Great Big Everything are some of the many sponsors who funded and supported Mother India. Mehta also said that the Indian community played a vital role in booking artists and performers, since most of them were found through word of mouth and local connections.

Photo by Madhup Rathi, via Facebook

While Mehta had expected to have trouble getting the community to contribute, he found it a much easier task than he’d planned for. “I was very humbled by how everyone was so willing to participate in this, because they felt it was something worth doing,” he said. Mehta hopes that this event will show everyone how the life of most Indians is based around community and family.

While Mehta has always tried to include elements of Indian culture in the work he’s done for Gallery 5 over the years, it wasn’t until his recent experience in Kroger that he felt the need to organize an all-Indian show. He said that, in the current political climate, there’s no better time than right now to put on a show like this.

“I think it’s because I got pushed enough,” Mehta said. “I’ve seen people getting harassed; I’ve felt it myself. And I think right now the general concern that I have is that we are not looking to one another as creators, makers, [and] thinkers. And unfortunately, a lot of people are using physical appearance as a deterring factor to any decision-making about that person.”

Mehta hopes that Mother India will both expose people to classical and contemporary Indian art and music, and give them the chance to approach and interact with these artists. Mehta believes that by doing so, individuals can engage with other communities through art — which is the mission of Gallery 5.

“Art transcends cultural biases, if you let it,” Mehta said. “It can become a unifier, and that’s why I want to do this.”

And if nothing else, Mehta hopes that the Richmond community will come with an open mind, ready to have fun.

“I hope people will come and have a great time,” he said. “And be blown away by the sights and sounds of all things India.”

Top Photo by David Kenedy/via Facebook

RVA Block Party Brings No BS! Brass Band, PBR, Angelica Garcia, & More to The Broadberry This Month

|

Topics: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Broadberry is kicking off spring right this month with an all-day indoor and outdoor music festival filled with some of Richmond’s finest acts, along with beer, food trucks, yoga, a record fair, an outdoor bar, and more.

RVA (All Day) Block Party will feature performances from 10 musicians and bands including crowd pleasers and headlining outdoor act, No BS! Brass Band, along with indoor headliners People’s Blues of Richmond, and sets by fellow Richmond bands and musicians Thorp Jenson, Brunswick, Prabir, Dharma Bombs, Spooky Cool, Night Idea, Angelica Garcia, and South Hill Banks.

For Lucas Fritz, co-owner of The Broadberry, the festival was an idea that he’d been cooking up for quite awhile, and to help bring it to life, he recruited his longtime friends from No BS! Brass Band.

“I’ve always wanted to do a big event around NO BS!, they’re my friends from back in the day, I went on tour with them down in Alabama back in 2009 or 2010, and this is the first time it really made sense to put something together,” Fritz said of the block party.

A big stage will be set up in The Broadberry’s parking lot on the west side of the building until 10 pm, at which point the venue will take the party inside for the rest of the performances.

As for the lineup, RVA Block Party is stacked with an eclectic mix of Richmond bands and musicians from the rowdy Appalachian bluesy-folk from the Dharma Bombs, to the wild psychedelic rock of PBR, to the indie prog rock sounds of Night Idea.

Fritz said he and No BS! co-founder and trombonist Reggie Pace aimed to showcase Richmond talent while offering a little something for everyone with this group.

“We wanted it to be pretty diverse and reflect the local bands that No BS! is super interested in at this time, and also people that are good friends of The Broadberry and The Camel and Richmond music scene,” he said. “We figured the more diverse of a lineup the more fun of an event it would be.”

Jenson, who is kicking off the event, is the alter ego of Chris Ryan, a local guitar player and songwriter, who’s been making waves recently with his Americana sound, playing regular gigs around town, and even getting a mention in Rolling Stone. The Chester native dropped his debut album, Odessa, last fall which you can check out below.

Night Idea also released their new record, Riverless, last fall, and unlike the quartet’s previous darker album, Breathing Cold, this LP shows off the band’s ability to expand into a wide range of sounds, defying one genre so hopefully, we get to hear some of that the day of the festival.

The ever unique music coming from the members of Spooky Cool never disappoints and for those who have been sleeping on Warner Bros signee Angelica Garcia, you better brush up before coming to the festival. The songstress caught RVA Mag’s eye after she dropped her debut album, Medicine For Birds in 2016, captivating us and audiences with her bluesy root songs, which were created in a parish house in her father’s church.

But live music isn’t the only entertainment the RVA Block Party is touting. Fritz said the festival will feature yoga by Jessica Scalin on the outdoor patio, with The Shack Band providing live music. And to appeal to you craft beer enthusiasts, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, who will be pouring beers at the outdoor bar, will also host a ticketed “beer school” inside The Broadberry for those interested in getting a little history lesson in brewing and what goes into some of your favorite beers.

“With that ticket, you get five different tastes and their brewers are going to be here and they’ll talk through the brewing process, you get to smell some hops and look at some malts.”

A caricature artist, and a small record fair will also be set up inside for festival attendees to check out if they want to take a break inside. “A couple local record labels and record shops will be setting up pop up shops,” Fritz said.

Tickets for the festival on Sat., April 28 are $25. As long as it’s not sold out, you can still snag yours at the door, but Fritz said at the rate they’re going, make sure you scoop yours in advance so you don’t miss out. People will be able to go from inside to outside and reentry will be allowed up until 7 pm.

If all goes well, Fritz is hoping to make the block party an annual event, and perhaps grow it out of the parking lot. “We’ll see what happens and make plans from there,” he added.

You can find the entire schedule for the day below:

1:00 – Doors
1:00 – 4:00 – Record Fair, Face Painting, caricatures, and other vendors inside
1:00 – 2:00 – DJ Ghozt *and in between sets
2:00 – 2:30 – Thorp Jenson
2:40 – 3:20 – Brunswick
3:00 – 3:45 – Yoga w/ Josh and Hunter of THE SHACK BAND
3:40 – 4:10 – Prabir Mehta
4:00 – 4:30 – Beer Class hosted by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
4:30 – 5:00 – Dharma Bombs
5:20 – 5:50 – Night Idea
6:10 – 6:40 – Spooky Cool
7:00 – 7:45 – Angelica Garcia
8:15 – 9:45 – NO BS! Brass Band

AFTER-PARTY (Requires FREE RSVP)
10:00 – 11:30 – South Hill Banks
11:45 – 1:15 – People’s Blues of Richmond

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

HomeAgain Works to End Homelessness and Get Families Back On Their Feet

|

Topics: , , , , , , ,

My earliest memories are of life in India in the 1980’s. In Ahmedabad, Gujarat all walks of life live together in very dense concentrations. The extraordinarily wealthy and the extremely poor and homeless all share the same walkways, parks, and public spaces. I grew up wondering how it was possible for me to get meals and water anytime I wanted, while other children my age were clearly unable to meet their daily needs. When I turned eight, my parents moved us to the United States. Initially I was mesmerized by the relative cleanliness, calm, quiet, and peaceful order that life seemed to operate under. Living in the suburbs of Richmond, VA also gave me the impression that in the United States, the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth, everyone could live comfortably and did not have to worry about the bigger woes of life, like homelessness. I was wrong.

My teenage and college years would bring me into the city more often for trips to museums, seeing a symphony on a field trip, and beginning to play music with my friends in small venues downtown. This is when I was able to see the reality; the fact that not only did we have homelessness here but it was not a concern to most people I knew. Life in the suburbs created a sort of bubble mentality. Since no one really ever saw homelessness in their cul de sac, it made one feel like homelessness did not even exist. However, this could not be further from the truth. While in college, I studied Urban Studies, and started to approach homelessness as an issue that we could address with the right minds working on the right projects, big and small.

Jolinda Underwood has been working at HomeAgain for a decade now. For years, I’ve been working with Underwood, putting on annual events at Gallery5 to bring awareness to the work HomeAgain is doing and raise some funds along the way. A little over a decade ago, the Richmond area had thousands of homeless individuals. Now, thanks to the work of Underwood and others, our homeless population is under 900. And with our collective help, it will continue to get smaller.

Underwood told me about how they try to approach the turnaround from homelessness to a permanent stable living situation. “The goal is 30 days,” she said. “We want rapid exits from the shelter to permanent housing.”

“Housing is a right,” she continued. “Whether you are in recovery, whether you have mental health diagnosis, whether you have income or not, there are still ways that we can work with you.”

HomeAgain’s staff works 24 hours a day to address the needs of our homeless, regardless of their situation. Women escaping abusive relationships, single fathers and mothers down on their luck, veterans, and individuals with mental health or addiction issues are all able to take advantage of this shelter-to-permanent-housing trajectory that HomeAgain gracefully provides to all of the folks that walk through their doors. The goal is to not only end homelessness by taking people off the street, but to also prevent homelessness for people that are at risk of ending up on the streets. This requires a lot of energy and work, but luckily for our city we have individuals like Underwood and her colleagues at HomeAgain to work on this huge mission which will ultimately benefit the entire community.

Underwood recalled one of the more difficult times in her career, when she was working with a young pregnant woman on the autism spectrum. The woman was not able to take her medication due to the complications it would bring to the pregnancy. She and her on-and-off boyfriend were living in a small tent behind a building near the HomeAgain offices. “I’ve been in this field for a long time, and that was the first time I got really choked up,” Underwood said. “To see all their belongings, food, and whatnot was outside a tent, and it had rained the night before.” This is just one of the complicated scenarios that has played out in front of Underwood’s eyes in her decade-long mission to fight homelessness.

“I had to work with a family that was living in their car for two months,” she said. “They were scared; they could not tell anyone they were living in a car. You can’t get a job, and you can’t tell anyone about it, because your children will get taken away. Their son was in high school. It’s tough.”

After a decade in the industry, Underwood has seen homeless families transition from stressful, unstable daily living situations to becoming homeowners with stability and a chance to move forward in life. But the work continues regardless. Families move into the HomeAgain network all the time, and our Richmond community can help make their lives a little easier by providing daily needs such as beds, sofas, food, and children’s educational and recreational items. The organization could benefit from fridges, vehicles, bus tickets, and obviously more funding.

“The goal is housing, but that’s not all we do,” she said. “There’s more to a person then just getting them connected to a house.” Education, employment, health services, and community interactions are vital components of life for each and every person in our city. Underwood’s team at HomeAgain is working towards bringing hope to those that may not think hope is possible. That hope will be made more potent and powerful if more individuals are aware of the many ways they can contribute to this greater issue.

——-

I’m thrilled to be a part of an event that will be raising funds for HomeAgain this Saturday at Gallery 5. We’ll have a lot of Richmond’s best musicians, including members of Sleepwalkers, The Trillions, Horsehead, and more, on hand to ring in the holidays with some Christmas songs and fun covers. The money from the door will go to HomeAgain. This is a great chance for the Richmond community to meet the staff, as they will be at the event to let folks know about how we can get involved. And you’ll get to enjoy some music along the way, too.

Gallery 5 is located at 200 W. Marshall St. This event begins at 8 PM. Tickets are $5, and can be purchased here. Click here for more information.

Richmond’s Last Waltz, feat. Kelli Strawbridge, Kenneka Cook, Landon Elliott, Prabir Mehta, and many more @ The Camel

|

Topics: , , , , ,

OK listen, I wouldn’t normally go all-out for a tribute show, but this one seems deserving of special mention to me. The Last Waltz was a concert film made by Martin Scorcese, documented the star-studded farewell concert by The Band in 1976. The original film featured not only a full set of The Band’s excellent moody, country-infused folk-rock but a host of guest appearances by everyone from Neil Young to the Staples Singers. Now, some local Richmond musicians are recreating the entire film as a long concert featuring all sorts of Richmond notables in a variety of roles. They’ll be kicking off the last weekend before Thanksgiving with this celebratory tribute event, live onstage at The Camel, and it’s sure to be an amazing time.

All it takes is one look at the lineup of musicians taking part in all of this to recognize its brilliance. It all starts with the quintet who’ll be playing the roles of The Band themselves, which features members of The Congress, Angelica Garcia‘s backing band, solo singer-songwriter Sid Kingsley, and more. Then there are the many guests making up a veritable who’s who of the Richmond soul, jazz, funk, jam, folk, and rock scenes–Kelli Strawbridge, Prabir Mehta, Kenneka Cook, Landon Elliott, Corey Axt, Brent McCormick, and quite a few more will pay tribute to the various guests who join The Band throughout the evening. Though I will say that I hope whoever portrays Neil Young (Prabir?) doesn’t go so far as to recreate the huge chunk of cocaine hanging out of Neil’s nose, which had to be rotoscoped out of the original film. Oops!

It’s the second half of November, y’all. Christmas music is already playing in the stores, Santa’s at the mall charging parents exhorbitant amounts for pictures with their terrified toddlers, turkey consultants are giving seminars on how to make Thanksgiving meals at Bed Bath and Beyond–it’s the holiday season, is what I’m saying. Around the musical world, this time of year offers us all a chance to have some fun and maybe not do everything with the same sort of seriousness and do-or-die intensity we bring to the stage most of the year. Seeing a bunch of incredibly talented local players loosen up and jamming on some old The Band tunes over at The Camel is a far less stressful way to celebrate this time of year than most of the other things we’ll be doing. So hey, why not? It’ll be a blast!