Delhi architect Masooma Rizvi has been a driving force behind some of India’s most prominent galleries and public spaces. Rizvi started her career in 1997 and has, among other spaces, designed the Sthapatya Gallery of the New Parliament Building, and the main dining hall of the Rashtrapati Bhawan; she is currently the art curator for the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Rizvi’s journey into the world of art and architecture began in her childhood. By the age of eight, she says she had realised that the colours and decor of a place significantly impact one’s mental state. “It needs to be beautiful because our environment is a reflection of ourselves,” she says.
Local knowledge
Rizvi has always been drawn towards local artists in both her personal and professional life. In the earlier days of her career, she met a visually impaired weaver from Vijayawada and began buying and promoting her Kalamkari sarees. “Wherever I went, I made it a point to buy local and market it. I was advocating for ‘vocal for local’ before it was even a thing,” she says as she continues to wear those sarees to work.
This attitude is reflected in her work as she has taken local inspiration in her airport projects. “Airports are gateways to states, so the art must be well thought out and eye-catching,” she says. At the Tiruchirappalli Airport, she installed a 120x100-square metre wall depicting the Margazhi Utsavam, a chariot festival native to Tamil Nadu that takes place each December. At the Ayodhya Airport, which was inaugurated last year in December, she ensured that Madhubani and other traditional art forms painting panels tell the story of Rama’s return to the city.
Big Delhi projects
Rizvi founded her company Belita Designs Solutions in 2007. Before that, she had designed 40 army messes. Her husband is an army man; this has exposed her to diverse cultures and artistic influences. “I bagged a project for the Gymkhana Club in Wellington, it was a corporate project, but when I was asked to fill in my company details, I had nothing to share because I was working individually. That’s when I realised that only companies are given such big projects,” she says. This realisation led to the creation of Belita, which then helped her bag many such big corporate and government projects.
One such is the New Parliament building, which recently hosted the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha. Working with Tata Projects Limited, she oversaw the installation of the National Emblem. “The National Emblem is made of bronze, weighs 9,500 kg, and stands 6.5-metre tall. It was some task to instal the National Emblem while making sure that the base structure of the wheel does not break,” she notes.
Rizvi collaborated with artists, sculptors, art historians, and vastu experts to ensure that every element reflected India’s rich heritage and was positioned correctly. She designed three Indian galleries, including the Sthapatya Gallery, featuring famous monuments from each state—the Golden Temple from Punjab, the Lepakshi Temple from Andhra Pradesh, the Cheraman Juma Mosque from Kerala and so on.
In 2016, Rizvi was selected to curate the then-Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, now known as Sushma Swaraj Bhawan. At the entrance, she placed a Tree of Life featuring 32 national birds from countries with significant Indian diaspora populations. One standout installation was a bronze boat, representing the story of the first woman indentured labourer. Rizvi has also worked on many international projects, her favourite one being the art curation at China’s White House Temple. Along with the Chennai Airport, she is currently working on a cultural centre in Japan that will soon be opened to the public.