A Retrospective of the Works of Nalini Malani Who Paints in Reverse

When artist Nalini Malani first started walking to her studio in Lohar Chawl, a wholesale market for electronic goods in Mumbai, she averted her gaze as she passed the homes without walls of the city’s poor.

Although Ms. Malani wanted to record their lives, she knew that the traditional method of drawing by observation would not work there -- it would be too voyeuristic to stand outside and sketch the pavement dwellers and laborers.