Abhi Topiwala & Bhavesh Bhuthadia

Bhavesh Bhuthadia and Abhi Topiwala teamed up once again to build on and explore beyond the foundations of their original 2018 public artwork, 'Bhoj Bhavan' as part of AAA2018's Eat My Culture series. Remaining for 5 years on the window of Great India Restaurant on Manners Street, the work became an unexpected longtime fixture in the space that left an impression on the Pōneke city centre.

For AAA2024, the duo revived the raw ingredients and spices that danced between architectural-henna, and fabric printing in a new light. Each frame of animated ingredients was used as a puzzle piece to overlay onto one another to reveal a new image. Integrating the research of Abhi’s Master of Design and Bhavesh’s skills as a multidisciplinary designer, the pair have prepared and presented a fresh new banquet for passersby – a visual feast. 

This work brings together the growth of the two practitioners and interlaces their continuation of looking into identity, third culture as well as creative approaches to building on communicating ideas of migration, displacement, and being of the Indian diaspora. With both creatives born in Tāmaki Makaurau to Gujarati Indian families, this work aspires to demonstrate what can come from the colliding of seemingly similar world views, navigating different creative paths and having Aotearoa as home. This work is a semi-permanent window installation and AR experience that will remain installed on-site at Great India for as long as it can be.