Priti Thale-Mhatre always loved painting and sketching, but they were hobbies during the 10 years that she worked as a textile designer after graduating from NIFT Chennai.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, however, the lockdown led her back to Alibaug, her hometown, where she continued to work from home. But her own backyard and the picturesque locales of the seaside getaway town beckoned, and she began to illustrate Alibaug.
Without ever planning it, she had an Alibaug series, and from there an illustrated Alibaug map that became very popular when she posted them on social media.
As projects and commissioned work from private companies began to pour in, from local resorts to illustrate their properties, for example, Priti found she would have to choose between full-time employment and her work as an illustrator. “In 2021, I quit my job and started illustrating full time.”
Through her venture ‘Shaipen Art’, named after the Marathi word for ink, Priti now creates multiple illustrated projects around Mumbai’s favourite beachfront destination. There is a book commissioned by a developer building villas in the town, paintings and illustrations commissioned by owners of old and heritage properties in Alibaug, and other resorts and hotel owners who want the localities around their properties to be mapped and illustrated.
Through her entirely bootstrapped initiative, Priti produces art prints, postcards, illustrated Alibaug maps, tote bags, coffee mugs, fish-shaped bookmarks, etc. These are retailed at local outlets such as Cafe Provenance at Mandwa jetty and Suju’s art cafe, and via her Instagram page on which her brother Siddharaj Thale, a lawyer, collaborates with his long and carefully researched accounts of Alibaug’s history and folklore.
For example, alongside one striking illustration of a queen standing on the shore of an Alibaug beach is the folklore tale about Chaul, 15 km south of Alibaug, a formerly Portuguese-ruled town where fortifications still stand. A tale among locals says a queen named Champavati who once ruled Chaul approached a sea goddess to stop the tidal flooding of the town, and in obeisance and gratitude for the goddess’s help, enthroned the goddess and ruled in her name.
“Siddharaj keeps visiting undiscovered places and ferrets out their history and writes about these locations,” she said.
“I love the images of Shaipen Art,” said Naheed Carrimjee, a lawyer and social activist. “They are meticulously created and illustrate the culture and flora and fauna of Alibaug in a beautiful way.”
While Priti designed and produced a limited batch of 2022 calendars that was dedicated to Alibaug alone, she plans to make one 2024 calendar with only local illustrations and another one dedicated to quirky and offbeat places from her travels.
