Art Street: The nameless sculpture that livens up Orlem Church Junction in Mumbai’s Malad

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Right at the intersection of four roads at the Orlem Church Junction in Mumbai’s Malad stands a meaningful artwork that signifies freedom and peace. A white sculpture of an open right hand with a bird perched on the tip of its middle finger, ready to take flight.
The spotless white colour of the eight-foot-high installation atop a square black granite platform never fails to grab one’s attention in the bustling junction. The granite has Our Lady of Lourdes Chowk, the junction’s official name, engraved on it. The junction gets its name from the Our Lady of Lourdes Church, popularly known as Orlem Church.
If you stop to know more about the artwork, you will notice that no title is mentioned, let alone the name of the artist. Sculptor Raju Dattatray Bind of the Kalama Studio, the artist behind the installation, said, “It was never given any name.”
The 57-year-old recalls, “Amid friction between two local political leaders at that time, the artwork remained nameless.” It was installed and inaugurated in 2011 and since then it is popularly known as “the-hand-outside-church” among the locals at Orlem.
The sculpture is repainted every year around Christmas when it is also lit for the festive celebrations. It was made using Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) which, Bind explains, “is a material which does not suffer any damages due to rain, making it easy to maintain.”
The Kandivali resident had his studio in Malad back then, which he later shifted to Virar. As he recalls, he was in the spotlight then for his artwork in Dadar – a sculpture of a vegetable vendor outside the popular Plaza theatre. Soon, it was decided that another artwork would be installed at the busiest junction in Malad’s Orlem.
Bind told The Indian Express, “The artwork was commissioned by local corporator Jaya Satnam Singh Tiwana who was with the Indian National Congress party at the time. As we started brainstorming over what could be the art installation at this spot, I suggested a hand for the sculpture as it was the official sign of the political party. It was decided to show an open hand providing a base for a bird to take flight, depicting freedom. A flight of hope as the bird embarks on a journey of new experiences at its own will.”
Tiwana later joined the BJP. As she was out of town and not reachable on phone, The Indian Express spoke to her son Tajinder Singh Tiwana who is the president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM). Tajinder denied that the sculpture had any connection with the Congress party’s symbol. “Their sign is a straight vertical hand. Unlike that, this is a horizontal open hand which is releasing a bird,” he said.
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