First realized as a public art commission at Dubai's Alserkal Avenue, Vikram Divecha's Roof/Structures (2024) is a monumental installation that repurposes printed tarpaulins that once covered the giant advertising billboards flanking Sheikh Zayed Road, the city's main artery, and its other major roads. Divecha sourced these discarded tarps from a local scrap market, where the durable waterproof material is cut, bundled, and then resold to people in Sudan, Iran, Afghanistan and India who, among other applications, commonly use it to line roofs and awnings to protect against rain and heat. Divecha presents the tarp fragments stretched across bamboo and rope structures that approximate these makeshift shelters, creating what he describes as "a cityscape of aspiration."
Divecha selected the fragments in close dialogue, over many months, with the resellers and porters (who dismantle, sort, load, and offload the tarps) he met at the scrap market. The primary fragment featured in this excerpt, entitled Roof/Structures (Gems and Jewelry/Fast Food) (2025), shows an intricate golden pendant of men rowing a boat, a motif selected by Dostali, one of the porters, as a symbol of migration. Divecha accents this image with a flat yellow band cut from a burger advertisement, echoing both the color gold and the varied appetites it signifies. The pendant image is an Onam-related marketing campaign by multinational jewelry retailer Tanishq who, like their competitors Joyalukkas, Kalyan, and Malabar Gold and Diamonds, was established in the early nineties after the liberalization of India's economy opened it up to globalization. These brands feature prominently in the city and mediascapes of both India and the Gulf, the gilded spectacle of wealth, aspiration, and desire they promote linking the cultural imaginaries and economic fortunes of, and the migratory flows between, the two regions.
Bamboo structure made with the skills and expertise of Jemshad, Xavier, Francis, and Dasan.
Text by Murtazal Ali
