The journey of Art in its modern, contemporary avatar in the subcontinent is not tied to the emergence and spread of institutions alone. This story is as much about relationships, improvisations, and friendships, as it is about exhibitions and collections. In fact,...

Artist Atul Dodiya’s reimagination of poet Arun Kolatkar’s poems from Kala Ghoda poems (2014) poses the viewer with a dilemma – are the artworks to be seen or read? From The Rat-poison Man’s Lunch Hour to Pi Dog and Breakfast Time at Kala Ghoda, long extracts of poems...

When I met her online, Paula Sengupta was in her study, winding down from her busy stint at a printmaking residency. It was a Thursday morning in the month of September, and the only time I could catch Paula before she became swamped with academic duties and other...

Long before elaborate exhibitions of artworks inspired by “miniature” painting became the ‘in’ thing, Waswo X. Waswo and his small team of collaborators broke into the art scene, reframing the idea and visual power of the “miniature” in a contemporary context. Now,...

‘In the history of art late works are the catastrophes.’ -T W Adorno, “Late Style in Beethoven”, Essays on Music, (2002) p. 567  ...

What is the significance of the art world in constituting “folk art” practices? Do art exhibitions and craft melas serve as contact zones where different ‘cultures’ meet and interact as equals or is there a hierarchical relationship whereby the values of the art world...

“The earth calls out, ‘Tell me Raja, why are you leaving me? You will never find such love in the city as you have found in your village!’”— Jangarh Singh Shyam, quoted in Mark Tully, No Full Stops in India (1992) In a painting titled Young Boy Playing the Flute in...

In August 2025, I visited an exhibition called ‘Mapping Memories’, organised by Madras Art Weekend and The Hindu, at Lalit Kala Akademi in Chennai. In the beginning, I felt what I often feel at events like this: a profound admiration for the artists but also a deep...

Artist Anupam Roy’s solo exhibition  is a culmination of his many years of intense engagement with multiple systemic distortions. A survey of his career-path suggests an evolving body of work that variously explores ruptures and fault-lines in the relationships...

Manava dehavu moole mamsada tadike,Manava moole mamsada tadikeIdara melide togalina hodikeTumbide olage kaamaadi bayake… ಮಾನವ ದೇಹವು ಮೂಳೆ ಮಾಂಸದ ತಡಿಕೆಮಾನವ ಮೂಳೆ ಮಾಂಸದ ತಡಿಕೆಇದರ ಮೇಲಿದೆ ತೊಗಲಿನ ಹೊದಿಕೆ ತುಂಬಿದೆ ಒಳಗೆ ಕಾಮಾದಿ ಬಯಕೆ The human body is a lattice of bones. The human...

Photography as a medium is often tied to the act of witness. Photographs become conduits of memory, or reminders of the places we inhabit or carry within us. While photographs are about recording that which is ‘seen’, they gesture towards the unseen, the locus and the...

“Fiber art sounds like it has gone and died in the museum - our textiles are made of living fibers!” retorted  master Bandhini tie-dye artist Abdulaziz Alimamad Khatri from Bhadli, Kachchh and master indigo dyer-weaver Odelu Vurugonda from Chennur, Telangana when they...

Philippe Calia (b. 1985, Paris) first arrived in Mumbai in 2011. The photographer’s earliest encounters with the metropolis were on the local train - the view from its compartments shaping his understanding of the urban fabric. Over a decade later, his solo exhibition...

I first saw Tanmoy’s artworks in Mumbai in 2014 at TARQ, Colaba. The works stood in sharp contrast to the world – their muted colours, the fragility of the material, themes almost absent at first glance. But the works nudged you to reconsider, to deliberate, to look...