The artist lives and works in Kolkata. And it shows. A Shifting Weave of Memory, previewed at The Fourth Floor Gallery, Kitab Mahal, Mumbai, is evidence of artist Dipali Bhattacharya's eloquence on the city of joy. Spinning yarns of varied hues to create a layered tapestry of motion and emotion, she draws simultaneously from a past and present that is characteristic of the lively metropolis where she once studied and now teaches art - the Government College of Arts and Crafts. Her vocabulary is rich and vibrant, embracing the sepia-toned portraits of inhabitants from a bygone era juxtaposed against dreamscapes and modern cityscapes peppered with familiar motifs as well as unfamiliar slogans, strident commands or plaintive phrases.

While further developing the plots set against the fading grandeur of the magnificent old city that she introduced in Onlookers at the Gallery Espace in Delhi last year, this time the artist feels compelled to embroider each tale of the traditionally-garbed natives of Old Calcutta with a bombardment of visual stimuli that confuses even as it seeks to enlighten the viewer about her private concerns in a public arena. The shifting sands are of the essence in her telltale backdrops of ancient buildings, public spaces and home interiors that seem to be irrevocably caught in a time warp.

Flights of birds taking off against a sky rendered colourful by the setting sun, families composing themselves before posing for a camera that promises to immortalise their physical forms, seahorses confronting each other amidst an ocean of people, schools of fish swimming towards a common goal... memories are made of these. But what makes each canvas of recollections intriguingly personal is the "tickertape" that runs across its surface like scraps of news, leaving us grateful at her generosity. As the artist's audience, we are truly a privileged lot - for we are allowed access to her most intimate secrets, cloaked though they may be in the mysterious attire of enigmatic words and idioms.

Bhattacharya's confidence in her storytelling abilities scales a new dimension with her painstakingly sculpted mahogany painted women whose gestures evoke their commendable nonchalance and self-assurance in the context of carving their own identity in a male-dominated society. It is always a pleasure to examine the vision of an insightful artist - so we must thank Namrata Kapoor Dalal of Gallery Art Resource Trust for bringing back to this city a significant artist whose last solo show was held at the Cymroza Art Gallery in 1993. Hopefully, we will not have to wait that long for her next.