Beasts of India: The Nehru Centre, London

A compendium of animals as rendered by a number of folk artists from India. Each of their artistic traditions conceives of the beast in distinctive ways, as original in the imagining as it is in the rendering.

I worked with researcher Kanchani Arni and publisher Gita Wolf to mount an exhibition at Nehru House in London that served as much as an acknowledgement of the centrality of the animals to art as an introduction to Indian painting styles.

The exhibition featured the work of elders and emerging artists including Jangarh Singh Shyam, Putli Ganju, Durga Bai, Jagdish Chitrakar, Nanusiya Shyam, Paresh Ratva, Lingaraj, Maharana,Ganju, Ramsingh Urveti, Chelia Hamir and many more.

The Nehru Centre is the flagship cultural centre abroad of The Indian Council for Cultural Relations. The exhibition was shown during the directorship of Girish Karnad.