Market Archives
An effort to document market spaces across India before they disappear entirely.
NOW ON DISPLAY AT SCIENCE GALLERY
The Wholesale Markets of Cuttack
Chef Rachit Kirteeman explores Chhatra Bazaar and Mal Godown,markets which have close ties,and finds that even though much has changed over the years, some old connections remain.
Inside Kohima’s Mao Market, Run Mostly by Women
For Kohima resident Asano Angami, the Mao Market is a noisy yet friendly space from which she learns something new on every visit.
Russell Market: Almost a Century-Down, But Not Out!
It is clear that the heydays of Bengaluru’s Russell Market are behind it. But it exudes an old-world charm, despite the disrepair and the slump in business, says Ruth Dsouza Prabhu, part of The Locavore-led group that documented this market.
Built in 1820, an Old Clock Tower Forms the Nucleus of the Market
This heritage building is a mere shade of what it once was, and a visit doesn’t reveal its historical significance easily. Shivani Unakar and Dhiraj Chilakapaty on the design, structure, and systems of trade within a market that was established to serve the cantonment.
Beyond Transactions: People Hold This Market Together
A morning spent at Bengaluru’s Russell Market reminds us of the forgotten art of engaging with familiar strangers, and taking pleasure in hand-picking fruits and vegetables for our everyday needs. Meet its people, and the produce they bring to the table.
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT
‘Market Archives’ is currently on display at Science Gallery, Bengaluru, as a part of the CALORIE exhibit from August 2025 to September 2026.
Our curation brings together photographs documenting the people, spaces, and foods of Kohima’s Mao Market (by Qhevika Swu), Cuttack’s Chhatra Bazar and Mal Godown (by Rachit Keertiman), and Bengaluru’s Russell Market (by Sanskriti Bist and Vanmayi Shetty).
In Haflong’s Weekly Vegetable Market, Dima Hasao’s Mountains Are on Offer
Bamboo shoots, jute leaves, colocasia leaves, and bitter berries are just some of the fresh produce this market offers, now under threat as uncertain climate and shrinking forests affect growing cycles.
Gariahat Bajaar’s Shaak Maashis Can Always Predict My Dinner Menu
Golden pumpkin flowers, red roselles, magenta eggplants, and various shades of green everywhere you look. At Kolkata’s Gariahat Bajaar, shaak maashis bring a variety of winter greens foraged from the outskirts of the city.
This Sunday Market in Alibag Thrives in the Monsoon
The Thal Sunday Market is indispensable to Neil Khopkar’s family-run eatery in Alibag. Leaning into local flavours and ingredients, it is here that they buy hirva vanga, samudra methi, and sakla, among a bunch of other produce.
Work Begins at 3 am in Kasimedu’s Fish Market
At the Kasimedu fish market in Chennai, fisherfolk are seeing a decline in their catch. Throvnica Chandrasekar captures the sights and smells of the market, and examines the reasons for the dwindling fish along the coast.
‘The Matunga market introduced me to my Mangalorean roots’
It is in the Matunga market in Mumbai that chef Ashwini Pai learnt how to identify a fresh and tender jeev kadgi. She writes on the seasonal produce essential to Mangalorean cooking, and how the market connects her to the town her grandparents left behind.
Pune’s Khadda Market: Seen Through the Eyes of an Architect
Why don’t we treat markets as the wonderful public spaces they really are? Wandering through a local market in Pune, and speaking to the vendors who run it, architect Smita Patil is struck anew by this question.
The Shifting Heart of Manipur’s Iconic Ima Market
Ammo Angom writes about the vanishing markets sprouting at Ima Market’s margins.
‘The kebabchi is an excellent place to catch gossip’
Archivist Farah Yameen has spent countless hours in Delhi’s mandis. Here, she examines some of the relationships she built with care, and her own shifting identities in the field.
ABOUT
Food markets feed, sustain, and provide livelihoods to the communities they serve. How they are organised and the produce available allow insights into the diverse lives and cultures interacting with these market spaces. However, as redevelopment escalates and quick commerce becomes increasingly rampant and accessible, food markets, as we know them, grow endangered.
This series aims to document as many markets as possible—small, sprawling, vanishing, noisy, on top of a hill, in the heart of a city—as living, evolving spaces, made by multiple stakeholders in the food system. It records observations from markets in a moment of time and a context, between changes, including the macro—how old it is, its history—as well as the micro—the time of the day it is at its most alive and its quietest, the months of abundance and those of scarcity.
To contribute to this project, please reach out to us at content@thelocavore.in
