THE MYSTICAL GEM
New York-based Ghiora Aharoni Design Studio is exhibiting The Zamrud. An emerald reliquary (a container for holy objects) sculpted from a block of brass, the work celebrates the green gem’s enduring hold on our collective history and imagination. Also on display are wall sculptures showcasing Hindru©, an original Ghiora Aharoni Studio script that melds Hindi and Urdu.
DESTINATION UNKNOWN
Head to Rukshaan Art Gallery’s booth to view Haal Mukaam: Current Address. This sculptural series by artist Girjesh Kumar Singh is centred on one idea: No address is ever permanent. Made from bricks salvaged from demolished constructions, Singh’s works explore themes of identity and migration with philosophical undertones.
HYPNOTIC WOMANIYA
African textile traditions clash with contemporary issues in Kenyan artist and photographer Thandiwe Muriu’s works. In the striking portrait, A Gathering of Welcome, being showcased by 193 Gallery, Muriu chooses to celebrate Kenyan women and their warm, welcoming spirit.
A FABLE IN BRASS
Designer Vikram Goyal reaches up to the skies and digs deep into nature and human imagination for his installation, The Measure of Life, being showcased at the India Art Fair (IAF). In the installation, brass sculptures of wild animals drawn from the Panchatantra – Gaja (elephant), Vyaghra (tiger) and Kurma (tortoise) rest under Vana, a large brass tree sculpture with textured hollowed arms. The idea, as Goyal notes, is to “suggest communal tranquility and empathy of beasts with nature.” Also on show are an entire collection of sculptural objects, furniture, and lighting.
MINORITY REPORT
Themes of discrimination, persecution and violence are recurring motifs in Afghan-origin artist Khadim Ali’s works. At the gallery Latitude 28 booth, make a beeline to watch this large-scale Untitled tapestry where Ali interprets traditional motifs of Eastern art history, using machine and hand embroidery, to portray the “demonisation of minorities.”
BRIGHT LIGHTS
Indian designer Dhruv Agarwwal’s resplendent chandelier Bloom is the cynosure of the Galerie Maria Wettergren booth. Inspired by Agarwwal’s childhood memories, this luminous installation has been crafted using “Channapatna toys made of soft ivory wood, wax lacquer, rings, pipe, stainless steel, meena enamel, LED and glass”. In 2021, Agarwwal won India’s Best Design Award for Full Bloom, an earlier iteration of the installation.
QUESTIONS THAT MATTER
Don’t miss American artist Judy Chicago’s groundbreaking work, What if Women Ruled the World? Conceived along with US-based cultural organisation, DMINTI in 2022, the work is making its India debut at IAF. Presented as a physical and digital quilt, it invites viewers to respond to Chicago’s questions such as “Would God be female?”, “Would there be equal parenting?” and add their own, making it an evolving project.
PAPER CUTS
Gallery Threshold’s exhibition at IAF, Held by a Web: Five Women Artists on Drawing, Form, and Quiet Resolve, showcases artworks by Shanthi Swaroopini, Anindita Bhattacharya, Michal Glikson, Santana Gohain and Neha Lavingi. Featuring drawings, paintings, sculptures, miniatures and installations, the common thread tying the works together is that they highlight the power of paper as a potent medium for creative expression.
MATERIAL WEIGHT
Artist Jayshree Burman’s work, The Impermeable, unfolds as a multi-panelled installation that melds paintings and poetry at the Art Alive booth. Taking inspiration from Burman’s own poetry collection,Tumi, Maa, this artwork is truly multidisciplinary as it has been created using an eclectic mix of materials such as cotton, fibre, crop samples, beads, synthetic insect, river bed soil, plywood and brass among others. “By translating the idea of “Maa” into three-dimensional forms, the work opens a space to reflect on the elemental feminine and the eternal nurturer,” elaborates the concept note.
STILL IMAGES SPEAK
Gallery Vida Heydari Contemporary is showcasing photography works by Iranian artist Maryam Firuzi. As an artist working in these politically charged times, Firuzi experiments with the medium of photography to explore issues affecting all of us: war, political turmoil and economic uncertainty. In her recent photography series,Scattered Memories Of A Distorted Future, on display at the fair, Firuzi juxtaposes paintings by well-known female artists of Iran on walls of abandoned, ruined spaces. “This juxtaposition of her work against the backdrop of ruins serves as a powerful exploration of art’s transformative potential in the face of despair,” says the press note.
AND THE CYCLE GOES ON
In his installation, Recycle of Life, artist Paresh Maity takes the thought of recycling as material and philosophical inquiry, and expands it into an (almost) 200-ft long creation — comprising 27 sculptures – made from burnt wood and recycled metal pipes. To view this work, head to the Art Alive booth.
A NEW VOICE
Stop by the Sabyasachi Art Foundation booth to view the “lyrical but disciplined” works of artist Atish Mukherjee, rendered in traditional and modern pigments on canvas. Mentored by the foundation that’s over a decade old, Mukherjee’s practice is gaining recognition for giving the Bengal School of Art a newer, more contemporary voice.
DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES
Gallery Akara is bringing together contemporary art practitioners who are exploring figure, foliage, and facets of texture and tactility through their work. The artists being featured include Umesh PK, Bhagyashree Suthar, Dhruva Mistry, Pooja Shah, Rajesh Sagara, Sathi Guin, Trishla Jain, Utkarsh Makwana, and Yogesh Rai, all of whom have their own distinct styles.
ART FOR THE WIN
The Arts Family (TAF), London is presenting works by winners from The Arts Family (TAF) Emerging Artist Award 2025 – South Asia. Make sure to catch works by Baroda-based textile and printmaking artist Deena Pindoria, the first winner of the TAF Award 2025 for her Anti War Series; and Deshna Shah, the recipient of the Young Artist Award.
STITCHING A TRADITION
Engage with Threads of Home , a textile presentation by the Porgai Artisans Association. Based in Sittlingi Valley, Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, this association is a society of Lambadi women artisans, who hand process traditional embroidery designs unique to their community.
