Curation

Process and Approach

My curatorial approach is intensive and research based.

I approach my curatorial practice through a research-centric lens, allowing it to unfold rigorously over time with attention and close engagement. I pay attention to both aspects of the art-making process and to the art that emerges from this process, alongside the relation to the times we live in.

I work with contemporary artists by engaging in sustained dialogue with them, their work and the space of the exhibition. It includes observing their work at their studio, their process and building an understanding of the rhythms of making. This enables me to present their work with nuance and care. Complementing the artists’ process is how the artwork itself would inhabit space and shape exhibitions to foreground the work while being sensitive to the architectural contexts and layer modes of narrations.

I hold writing at the centre of this process allowing me to craft exhibition texts with precise, rigorous, accessible, and inclusive.

Focus

Contemporary Art | Southern Indian Art | Craft Traditions

While I am interested in the varied manifestations of contemporary art, I am particularly fascinated by the art of Southern India and its evolution over time. Given my interest in craft, I have also curated shows about the traditions of craft in the region and explored their overlap with the contemporary.

Some shows curated so far

Transforming Traditon, InKo Centre | Chennai, 2023

Transforming Traditions featured the works of artists from different parts of India who engaged with textile traditions in varied ways. Belonging to families that have created painted textiles for many generations, some artists in the exhibition reframed the motifs and techniques of traditional textiles for contemporary sensibilities. Others used quintessentially Indian dyes, notably indigo, to engage with the subcontinent’s history from ancient to colonial and contemporary times. Drawing attention to issues of ecology, community, sustainability and history, this exhibition was a testimony to the enriching creative conversation that can exist between different art forms.

Self-Reflection, InKo Centre | Chennai, 2023

This exhibition focused on five Chennai based artists who explored various facets of the self through art. Using the personal as starting points these artists moved beyond the concerns of the individual being to empathetically address themes that were universal in their resonance. Through portraiture and metaphorical images, these artists use the self as a conduit to connect with others and to register the socio-political and cultural realities of the contemporary world.

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Mid-century Madras: Creative Dialogues in Art, Craft and Industry, 47- A Gallery | Mumbai, 2022

Curated by Vaishnavi Ramanathan, C&L Design in collaboration with Ashvita’s

The exhibition looked at the intersection of art and craft in the Madras region in the mid-twentieth century. The exhibition also presented objects in ceramics, textiles and metal as also artworks, from the artists’ commune of the Cholamandal Artists’ Village. Through this, the exhibition demonstrated the ways in which craft and art intertwined to enrich each other. Ultimately, this exhibition provided a glimpse of how the notion of being progressive was being interpreted by different interest groups working in distinct but overlapping areas: by nation-builders who spearheaded initiatives aimed at socio-economic change; by designers who sought to inculcate a new aesthetic sensibility in domestic spaces; and by artists who desired to create a taste for modern art.

Making Art, Piramal Museum of Art | Mumbai, 2019

This unique exhibition which I co-curated with Ashvin Rajagopalan explored the basic question of how art is made, the kind of materials used and the process by which ideas transform into works of art. The exhibition adopted a hands-on approach allowing viewers to experience the joy of making art through art-making stations that were present in the museum space. The exhibition combined viewing with making thereby challenging the separation that exists between the world of art-making and the world of art consumption.

Nature to Culture, Piramal Museum of Art | Mumbai, 2017

This exhibition, co-curated with Brijeshwari Gohil, delved into the rich craft tradition of India. In particular, it focused on the connection between the environment and the art forms that emerge from a region. This exhibition presented craft forms from five different geographies (mentioned in ancient Tamil literature), namely mountainous, desert, pastoral, coastal, and riverine. The exhibition then narrated the story of each craft form, its intrinsic dependence on the ecology of the region, and the current diminished state of the craft as a result of environmental degradation.

Smriti, Piramal Museum of Art | Mumbai, 2015

This exhibition which marked the launch of the Piramal Museum of Art, presented the story of Indian art through the lens of one particular collection. The exhibition presented artworks from the Piramal collection and featured artworks from the colonial era down to present times. The exhibition was a challenge to curate as it was shaped by a collector’s vision of the artworld thereby creating areas of gap and excess in its selection of artworks. At the same time, the collection was rich in its history thereby allowing multiple narratives to be unravelled.