Botanical Symbolism in Pahari Painting
by Sarang Sharma

Wish Fulfilment and Blooming Trails: Visuals of Flora in Early India
by Sneha Ganguly

Braided Botanies
by Projit Bihari Mukharji

“Red Lilies” : A Newly Discovered Mansur
by N.C.Mehta

The Ephemeral Urbanism of Durga Puja in Kolkata
by Swati Chattopadhyay

The Hands that Shape the Goddess
by Mrinalini Vasudevan and Namrata Ghosh

The Evolving Iconography of the Goddess
by Sandip Bandopadhyay (trans. Soham Chatterjee)

The Cult of Vana-Durga, a Tree Deity
by N.M. Chaudhuri

Homelands in Crisis: Reviews from the MAMI 2024 South Asian Selection
by Prakhar Patidar
Bhutan’s Agent of Happiness, Nepal’s Pooja, Sir and Bhutan’s Comrade Poopy unravel ordinary people’s search for love, truth and freedom amidst insurgency, ethnic clashes, and governmental control over individual and collective identities.

The Curious Case of the Missing Hindi Film Comedian
by Sreya Mitra
The comic sidekick, once a staple of popular cinema and the forte of stars like Johnny Walker, Mehmood, Asrani and Johnny Lever, has been phased out in favour of heroes who have mastered all emotions and tropes within masala films.

It Takes a Village To Make a Film: In Conversation with Rima Das
by Critical Collective
Tracing the award-winning Assamese filmmaker’s journey from her self-taught, shoe-string budget, home-bound brand of independent filmmaking to becoming a consistent festival darling, Critical Collective speaks to Rima Das as her films Village Rockstars 2 (2024) and My Melbourne (2024)

A Small Man with Tall Strides
by Sayandeb Chowdhury
A close study of the legendary Bengali actor Rabi Ghosh's contributions to theatre and films (especially those of Tapan Sinha and Satyajit Ray) reveals how he was much more than just a comedian.

Swastika Mukherjee: An Actor on Her Own Terms
by Debotri Ghosh
Mukherjee’s versatility shines through in her on and offscreen personae, enabling her to emerge as a strong voice within the Bengali film industry, Bollywood and the national OTT space.

Vasan Bala's Courageous Filmmaking in Jigra
by Sachin Sharma
Bringing together different cinematic styles, this Bollywood melodrama meets Asian jailbreak thriller also makes an important political statement.

Suchitra Sen: The Quintessential Star
by Smita Banerjee
Mrs Sen enjoyed a successful career in Bengali films but struggled to be taken seriously by the media, which questioned her entry into the industry, her language, acting abilities, and haughty demeanour.

Saeed Mirza: The Filmmaker Poet
by Radhika Tulsian and Sachin Sharma
Saeed Mirza sharply critiqued society through his working-class heroes and created new possibilities for cinema to move out of the boxes of religion, class, art and mass.

Gandhiji on Art
by Nirmal Kumar Bose
This archival piece revisits an interaction between Nandalal Bose and Mahatma Gandhi to reflect on Gandhi’s meticulous understanding of art, beauty and the role of creative interventions in making meaning in life.

Revisiting the Legacy of Jagdish Swaminathan
by Radhika Sharma
The release of a new publication on Jagdish Swaminathan offers a fresh opportunity to raise questions around the artist and institution-builder's vision and contribution to Indian art.

Whimsical Fantasies and Historical Realities
by Namrata Ghosh
Bringing new life to archival photographs through the vibrancy of traditional miniature painting, What the Camera Didn’t See encourages its viewers to revisit the static nature of images.

Inky Trails: The Adventures of Abu Abraham
by Pinaki De
A recent exhibition paid tribute to the legendary cartoonist on his birth centenary, through works which mirror the complex politics of his era, but also speak to the frissons in contemporary times.

Santali Archives and Cultural Heritage: Echoes from the Past
by Rahi Soren
A growing digital collection of rare and endangered Santali literature from the 19th century provides valuable insights into the community's history and traditions.

Galleries in India - Scaling Up
by Critical Collective
As the Indian art world increases its footprint, CC speaks to five gallerists to assess their changing priorities in recent years.

Chander Haat: Building Community through Environmental Art
by Mrinalini Vasudevan
Recipient of the inaugural Vivan Sundaram Grant for Installation Art, this artist collective uses site-specific projects to engage with local ecology, migration, living traditions and knowledge.

Centenary Tribute to Mohan Samant
by Umara Zainab and Vasudha Chatterjee
Revisiting the legacy of the modernist painter Mohan Samant, known for his unique and ambiguous painterly language and early experiments with mixed media.

New Kid on the Block: Mumbai’s Museum of Solutions
by Neerja Deodhar
The institution widens the scope of a children’s museum, celebrating modes of learning that find limited space in traditional schooling, and viewing children as agents of change, capable of confronting social and ecological issues.

Museum Making in India Today: Conversation with Eka Resources
by Namrata Ghosh
New and upcoming museums in the country reveal how they incorporate Indian design practices and build on collaborations between local and foreign firms.

Kolkata Police Museum
by Namrata Ghosh
Tracing police history from the colonial to the early 2000s, the museum provides a glimpse into the formation, evolution and functioning of the city police while raising questions about the politics of representing institutional histories.

Interrogating India’s First Museum Biennale at the Bihar Museum
by Namrata Ghosh
The article raises important questions about the use of the word ‘biennale’ while examining the impressive museum the event is located in.

Representing a History of Violence: The Partition Museum in Delhi
by Umara Zainab
The recently inaugurated museum highlights Delhi’s experience of violence and displacement in the wake of the 1947 Partition.

A House for Mr Roy
by Mrinalini Vasudevan
DAG’s recent acquisition of and plans for the Jamini Roy House in Kolkata gives hope for a new model of museum-making in India.

Praying at the Museum: The Ancestral Home of Swami Vivekananda
by Namrata Ghosh
On the eve of Swami Vivekanand’s death anniversary, the author visits his house-museum, which also serves as a place for worship.

The South Asia Gallery at the Manchester Museum
by Virginia Whiles
This gallery becomes the first permanent space in the UK to celebrate subcontinental art history and the culture of the South Asian diaspora.

Thresholds of Becoming: 16 Artists Try To Step Across
by Sandhya Bordewekar
A recent exhibition at Ahmedabad's Conflictorium Museum delves into the various 'thresholds' that mark artistic practice, urban history and memories of home.

Nation as Exhibit: The Long Shadow of T.N. Mukharji
by Gayatri Sinha
Remembering T N Mukharji, the first Indian curator at an art institution, known for his internationally mounted exhibitions in the 1880s.

Artists and the Weather Station
by Namrata Ghosh and Radhika Sharma
28° North and Parallel Weathers brings together art, science and digital intervention in tracking weather changes in regions along latitude 28° North.

In Search of New Horizons: Muhanned Cader's Island in the Sky
by Mrinalini Vasudevan
The landscapes captured in the Sri Lankan artist's first solo exhibition in India become metaphors for themes of home, belonging, exile and multicultural identities.

Revisiting Another Master: Ram Singh Urveti
by Umara Zainab
The myths and legends of the Gond community have found new life in the painterly canvas of Urveti over the last three decades.

When Artists Reimagined ‘The Waste Land’
by Radhika Sharma
Art Heritage’s exhibition revisits T. S. Eliot’s classic, Reimagining The Waste Land, through the works of five contemporary Indian artists.

Crisis in the Critical Zone
by Namrata Ghosh
This travelling exhibition seeks to draw attention to the ever-growing challenge of climate change by focusing on the fragile environment of the critical zone that sustains all life on Earth.

Form and Ritual: Arti Kadam’s Sculptural Exploration of Everyday Grace
by Deeksha Nath
The artist’s inaugural solo exhibition, House of Objects, reveals her ability to transformutilitarian objects and tasks into meditative, ritualistic tools and practices.

The Acumenical Pursuits of Mr. L.N. Tallur
by Peter Nagy
This is an in-depth survey of the style of L.N. Tallur, known for visualizing the convergence of the traditional and the contemporary in diverse forms, while addressing the gap between art and craft in his practice.

In the Forests of the Night
by Jesal Thacker
Tara Sabharwal’s mnemonic works bridge the conscious and the unconscious worlds, while their textural patterns and splurges of colour explore the idea of creation through the lens of the ‘wild’ and the ‘sublime’.

Three Narratives of Displacement
by Gayatri Sinha
A 2007 show of Chittrovanu Mazumdar’s works at 1x1 Art Gallery emphasizes how his practice addresses displacement through an informed hybrid perspective of personal, cultural, and social contexts.

Cracks in the Wall
by Adwait Singh
Ayesha Singh explores intercultural exchange in the pre-globalization world, while drawing attention to the vulnerability and transience of built architecture.

Baaraan Ijlal: Hostile Witness
by Gayatri Sinha
Baaraan Ijlal studies her chosen site as a witness to history and situates it within the context of demolition and repurposing that has gripped Indian cities and their built heritage.

Trough Traces: Arunkumars’ Arbitration on the Transforming Ecosophy of Food
by Anshuman Dasgupta
TRACT explores the interactions between food and ecology through various mediums and motifs.

Caryatid - A View Point
by Chaitanya Sambrani
Shakuntala's caryatids are supporters of the structure of society, which engage in a series of actions and gestures related to ideas of carrying, connecting and balancing.

The Last Sanctuary: Vasudevan Akkitham
by Gayatri Sinha
“Vasudevan Akkitham sets up a dialogic interlude, one that traverses personal history and the legacy of art to reflect on the present.”

Drifting Threads: Cholamandal Artists’ Village over fifty years
by Ashrafi S Bhagat
Ashrafi Bhagat traces the past, present and future of the Cholamandal Artists' Village in Chennai.

How to Feel a Leak?
by CAMP
CAMP elaborates on their work, THE RADIA TAP(E)S as part of The Ungovernables, New Museum, New York Triennial (2012).

CONA: Points of Reflection
by Hemali Bhuta
Hemali Bhuta on the founding of CONA as a pedagogical structure for artists.

New Group: In conversation with Amitava Das and Mona Rai at New Delhi, April 23, 2014

Amitava Das and Mona talk about the formation of the New Group in 1974.

The Calcutta Group - Its Aims and Achievements
by Prodosh Das Gupta
Prodosh Das Gupta highlights the premise of founding the Calcutta Group in 1940.

Indian Society of Oriental Art
by James H. Cousins

Society of Contemporary Artists, Kolkata, 1960

Calcutta Group, 1943

A Conversation on Caste, Labour and Art with Vikrant Bhise
by Critical Collective
The young Bombay-based artist discusses his engagement with Ambedkar’s teachings and the stories of the Dalit community depicted in his paintings.

Architectures of Momentum: In Conversation with Rameshwar Broota
by Critical Collective
The artist’s oeuvre has been a long-standing testament to how he addresses the passage of time in defined forms and abstractions.

On 1Shanthiroad: In Conversation with Suresh Jayaram
by Mallika Visvanathan
As 1Shanthiroad Studio and Gallery completes 20 years, Suresh Jayaram speaks about the nature of the space and its future in a post-pandemic world.

Conversation with Gigi Scaria
by Sohorpem Kazingmei
The artist highlights the centrality of city landscapes in his work, while speaking of his experiments with printmaking as part of his artistic process.

On Nature and Abstraction: An Interview with Ganesh Haloi
by Namrata Ghosh
The artist talks about how his early life and experiences greatly influenced his practice.

how many songs from a single note?
by Shaunak Mahbubani
Shaunak Mahbubani interviews artist, Rah Naqvi about her recently closed exhibition, how many songs from a single note?

Today is Better than Yesterday: In Conversation with Surekha
by Mallika Visvanathan
Surekha speaks about her recent works displayed at 1Shanthiroad, Bengaluru, made in response to the feelings of stagnation and loss which characterized the first waves of Covid-19.

Pieces of Home: In conversation with Tanmoy Samanta

The artist discusses his latest series of works created in the midst of the pandemic, which reconsider the ideas of home and earthly existence, using pigment, rice paper and shape-shifting collages.

Between Freedom and Confinement
by Arundhati Bhan
Unseen Shadows, a new exhibition by Richa Arya and Deena Pindoria, delves into narratives of resilience, the limitations of materiality, socio-political erasure, and the undervaluation of women's work.

Queering Frames: In Conversation with Debalina Majumder
by Upasana Das
Majumder opens up about her engagements with the queer community in Bengal and beyond through her photography and films, focusing on contemporary debates around decriminalizing homosexuality and legalizing same-sex marriage in India.

Fluid Bodies, Plastic Trends: Beauty in the Age of Instagram
by Avilasha Ghosh
The ‘fashion beauty complex’ continues to regulate women’s bodies and beauty under the garb of new discourses around self-care, health and body positivity on social media.

Rituparno Ghosh and the Queer Folks of Bengal
by Kaustav Bakshi
A look at how the late Bengali filmmaker emerged as a queer icon by making public a precarious, marginal, dispossessed life.

Conversation with the Aravani Art Project
by Critical Collective
On the use of collaborative public art projects, especially murals, to empower the trans community across small and big cities in India.

Afrah Shafiq and the Art of Play
by Mrinalini Vasudevan
Shafiq, who works at the intersections of technology and art, opens up about the women who have inspired and found their way into her stories.

Minto and the Begums of Oudh
by Shilendra K. Singh
On the role of Bahu Begum, the widow of Nawab Shuja-ud-Daula, and Bhabi Begum, the widow of Nawab Wazir Asaf-ud-Daula, in the Anglo-Oudh political relationship of the 19th century.

Reading Silenced Identities Through Visual Archives: Indian Travelling Ayahs in Service of the British Empire
by Arunima Datta
On the ayahs (Indian maidservants) employed by elite Indian and European families.

Anandavardhana's Treatment of Aprastutaprasamsa
by P. K. Narayana Pillai
The essay discusses the degree of novelty in Anandavardhana’s theory of dhvani, and the rhetorician’s opinions regarding the contributions of his successors towards the theorization of dhvani. (1957)

A Critical Survey of the Ancient Indian Theatre Accordance with the Bharata Natyasastha and its Commentators
by Subba Rao
Construction of ancient Indian theatre, as propounded in Bharata's Natyashastra is interpreted in an objective manner by comparing the theoretical with the practical aspects. (1953)

An Outline of Indian Aesthetics
by Nagendra
On the various speculations pertaining to the nature of Beauty in the Indian context and the contribution of Indian poetics and philosophy in its formulation. (1934)

The Dynamism of the Indian Concept of Rasa
by K S Ramaswamy Shastri
On the concept and origin of Rasa in Indian aesthetics and the development of its elements. (1935)

Some Modern Critics and Ancient Texts on the Aesthetic Value of Hindu Images
by N.V. Mallavya
On the aesthetic and iconographical aspects of ancient Indian sculpture as outlined in the Agamas and Shastras. (1942)

Anandavardhana’s Treatment of Pratibha in Relation to Dhvani
by K. Krishnamoorthy
On the concept of Pratibha or creative imagination brought about by the agency of Dhvani. (1950)

Peculiarities in the Alamkara-Section of the Agni-Purana
by Suresh Mohan Bhattacharya
On the unique modes of treatment accorded to Alamkara and its constituent elements in the Agni Purana. (1960)

Studies in Dhvanyaloka, the Adivakya in Dhvanyaloka
by V.A. Ramaswami Sastri
On the importance of dhvani in communicating the essence of emotion inherent in poetry and drama. (1955)

Entangled Pasts, 1768-Now: Art, Colonialism and Change
by Deeksha Nath
A recent exhibition at London’s Royal Academy explores the legacies of Britain’s imperial past, and the role art played in shaping narratives of empire, enslavement and resistance.

Memory Fields in the Art of the Global South: A Review
by Gayatri Sinha
Andreas Huyssen's deeply perceptive reading of key artists creates a transnational view of the recollection of trauma and its invocation in contemporary art.

Parvez's performative gestures:The subversion of the capitalist art economy
by Deeksha Nath
The author writes on performance and lens based artist Parvez’s seven month long project in Switzerland questioning the presumptions around audience interaction and the sites of art presentation.

Restless Creations: Adeela Suleman's Art for Social Change
by Virginia Whiles
Virginia Whiles speaks with sculptor Adeela Suleman on her use of found objects and dark humour in her work, as a way of exploring social and ecological violence, tragedy and censorship in Pakistan. (2021)

Positionings
by Salima Hashmi
With Bani Abidi's nomination for the Böttcherstraße prize, Salima Hashmi writes on a generation of Pakistani women artists' work "as a site for mutinous content and personal empowerment.” (2020)

TANTRA: Enlightenment to Revolution
by Virginia Whiles
The author reviews the ongoing exhibition at the British Museum through a ‘socially distanced’ critique, following online talks and exchanges with colleagues. (2020)

Contesting and coalescing voices from Dhaka Art Summit
by Mustafa Zaman
In its 5th edition, DAS invited the voices of different communities, giving them a chance to articulate in their own terms, the legacies of colonial/postcolonial modernity. (2020)

Lahore Biennale: ‘between the sun and the moon’
by Virginia Whiles
The second Lahore Biennale stages a polyphony of artistic voices weighing in on the shared cultural and political history of South Asia and the Middle East. (2020)

Book Review: The Right to Look
by Sachin Sharma
The book explores the multifaceted nature of Indian photography through a structured examination of how the medium interacts with the body, identity and perception.

Book Review: Photo-Attractions
by Malavika Karlekar
Ajay J. Sinha’s latest book unearths the performance-based collaboration between Indian dancer Ram Gopal and American photographer, Carl Van Vechten.

Book Review: History of Urban Form of India
by Sandhya Bordewekar
Pratyush Shankar's book looks at indigenous models of urban planning that emerged in response to local geographic, historical and socio-economic orientations.

Doing History at a Slant: Remembering the Kasauli Art Centre
by Arushi Vats
A review of Belinder Dhanoa’s Kasauli Art Centre (1976-1991)

Book Review: Postnational Perceptions in Contemporary Art Practice
by Kamayani Sharma
Bindu Bhadana examines the art of Chitra Ganesh, Tejal Shah and Nikhil Chopra.

Review of The Planetary King: Humayun Padshah
by Umara Zainab
Ebba Koch's new work provides a holistic picture of the oft-maligned Mughal emperor, Humayun, through a study of his interest, beliefs, ideology and cultural contributions.

Pushpamala N. and "the Artistic Ways of Viewing the Sacred"
by Annapurna Garimella
The book is a collection of articles reflecting on Pushpamala N.’s reimagination of popular images within the framework of nationalism and motherhood.

The Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum: A Palimpsest of the Past and Present
by Amrita Gupta Singh
Mumbai: A City Through Objects - 101 Stories from the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum allows for an exploration of the city of Bombay/Mumbai through the lives of several objects in the musuem.

Sahmat: Moments in Collapse
by Umara Zainab
The exhibition is an urgent intervention for critical thought, an exercise in remembering and creating a distinct point and space to force us to imagine a different future.

Karbala and Other Symbols-M.F. Husain
by Gayatri Sinha
Husain's Karbala, bearing its message of persecution and painted during the Gulf War returns with extraordinary prescience, in its staging at the Venice biennale.

Imagining Liminality: The Flux at India’s Cultural Thresholds
by Neerja Deodhar
The unsaid and the hidden-across architecture, history and time-assume centre stage at an exhibition hosted by Mumbai’s Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre.

Lipstick Stories: ‘Middle-Class’ India Gazes at Itself
by Neerja Deodhar
Roshan Chhabria’s latest solo show employs observational humour and a kitschy style toreflect on the common man’s aspirations and insecurities.

A Centenary Tribute to K.G. Subramanyan
by Vasudha Chatterjee
Remembering one of 20th-century India's most prolific and prominent modernists, who was a renowned artist, writer, teacher and institution builder.

Ameen Sayani (1932-2024): The South Asian Radio Star
by Vebhuti Duggal
The essay looks back at Ameen Sayani's stardom in light of his passing, and about the legacies of his flagship programme, Binaca Geetmala.

Review of Common Ground: Where Our Truths Meet
by Namrata Ghosh
The second edition of the Indian Ceramics Triennale brings together artists from 12 countries that engage with landscape, identity, history and culture.

Conversations with Three Contemporary South Asian Women Artists
by Namrata Ghosh and Radhika Sharma
Anoli Perera (from Sri Lanka), Bushra Waqas Khan (from Pakistan), and Pooja Duwal (from Nepal) reflect on their practice.