With Delhi Contemporary Art Week coming to a close, here is a list of parallel exhibitions currently displaying, handpicked by our team from all over India to bookmark for your next gallery trail.
- Souvenir Shop
When: On view until 6th September Where: Nature Morte, Mumbai
Image courtesy: Nature Morte
Drawing inspiration from Bharat Sikka’s 16 year-old daughter, Mannat’s Haiku poetry and her fascination with Japanese culture, that blossomed after their two subsequent trips to Japan, the exhibition is a representation of the artist’s interpretation of Japan, viewed through the lens of a personal journey of a father with his daughter.
- The Indian Echoes of Surrealism
When: On view from 7th-10th September Where: CCA, Bikaner House, New Delhi
Image courtesy: Art & Beyond
This exhibition explores Surrealism, one of the 20th century’s most avant-garde movements, and traces how it permeated the Indian imagination, evolving into a distinctive visual language of its own.
- Horizons of Memory
When: On view from 10th-30th September Where: Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi
Image courtesy: Art Alive
A solo exhibition dedicated to the works of Yashwant Deshmukh’s long-standing engagement with the metaphysical qualities of space, architecture, and form. Through abstracted architectural elements and a muted visual language, his works create a world where the visible and invisible, the inhabited and the imagined, quietly converge. The exhibition reflects his deep fascination with memory, atmosphere, and the quiet resilience of everyday objects, transforming them into meditative terrains of silence and reflection.
- Where the Light Falls Gently
When: On view until 13th September Where: Subcontinent, Mumbai
Image courtesy: Subcontinent
Where the Light Falls Gently, true to its name offers a contemplative glimpse into the quiet beauty of everyday life. Hemali Vadalia captures the subtle rhythms of domesticity and routine, drawing inspiration from those closest to her. Through her paintings, she gently archives overlooked moments, turning the mundane into tender reflections of lived experience.
- Salon: The India Way
When: On view until 15th September Where: Nature Morte, Mumbai
Image courtesy: Nature Morte
Salon: The India Way at Nature Morte, Colaba, reimagines art history through a transnational lens, placing iconic Western and Indian modernists in thoughtful co-presence. Inspired by the Paris Salon, the exhibition challenges Eurocentric narratives, revealing modernism as a shared, simultaneous global movement.
- Sair-e-Dilli
When: On view from 7th-15th September Where: Ballroom, Bikaner House, New Delhi
Image courtesy: DAG
Reimagining Delhi’s historic sites not as relics of a bygone era, but as living spaces woven into the city’s cultural and social fabric, Sair-e-Dilli Chronicles of Change, moves beyond colonial, chronological narratives, adopting a more fluid, Indian perspective, mapping the city as a vibrant network of sites, both old and new. Rooted in the idea of ‘sair’ – a contemplative or leisurely exploration of kind, it invites viewers to experience Delhi as nineteenth-century locals once did.
- No one is a Stranger
When: On view until 20th September Where: Kolkata Centre for Creativity, Kolkata
Image courtesy: KCC, Instagram
Photographer, painter and former sports journalist Kushal Ray’s body of photographs, explores the fluid idea of a family and shared spaces.Whether in the intimate interiors of a south Kolkata home or the high-altitude landscapes of Ladakh, Ray’s photographs are imbued with tenderness, memory, and the patience of return. Curated by Swastik Pal, No One Is a Stranger brings together 65 works from across Ray’s expansive archive, tracing the threads of belonging, friendship, and kinship that bind his life and art.
- Triloka
When: On view until 20th September Where: Srishti Art Gallery, Hyderabad
Image courtesy: Srishti Art Gallery, Instagram
Rooted in the Buddhist concept of Triloka: the three realms of desire, form, and formlessness – this exhibition brings together three emerging artists who chronicle our turbulent present. Through memory, imagination, and socio-political critique, their distinct yet intersecting practices reflect the anxieties and transformations of our time.
- Vartaman
When: On view from 27th September – 1st October Where: Living Traditions Centre, Bikaner House, New Delhi
Image courtesy: Black Cube Gallery
Presented by Black Cube Gallery, Yashika Sugandh’s Vartaman is a nostalgic, imaginative ode to nature, exploring our fractured relationship with the environment through delicate, miniature-inspired paintings. Rooted in reverence and shaped by the ethos of selfless service, her work invites reflection on ecological loss, compassion, and our shared responsibility toward a more harmonious coexistence.
- Inside the Empty Box
When: On view from 27th September to 1st October Where: Kalamkaar Art Gallery, Bikaner House, New Delhi
Image courtesy: MAG Contemporary
Inside the Empty Box takes inspiration from Prabhakar Barwe’s idea of the ‘box’ as a space alive with invisible memory and perception, something that is not empty, but charged. Presented by MAG Contemporary and curated by Jesal Thacker the exhibition features 17 artists, transforming this metaphorical container into a site for inquiry, imagination, and the unfolding of meaning.
- As It Is
When: On view until 5th October Where: Nature Morte, New Delhi
Image courtesy: Nature Morte
Known for his hyper-realistic style, Abir Karmakar’s paintings possess a quiet stillness that unfolds slowly with time. What first appears as empty – an open sky, a silent room, a stretch of sand, gradually reveals depth, presence, and the subtle traces of human life. His work invites viewers to witness the shifting play of light, texture, and memory, exploring themes of belonging, kinship, and the spaces we inhabit. Featured in this exhibition are two monumental new works: The Promised Land (8 x 27 ft) and Ancestors (7.5 x 44.5 ft), both rich with layered meaning and intimate reflection.
- Morphology of Water
When: On view until 18th October Where: Emami Art, Kolkata
Image courtesy: Emami Art, Instagram
In Morphology of Water, artist Santanu Debnath reflects on the fading presence of ponds and reservoirs that once anchored communal life in his native village, Betpukur in West Bengal. Through hyper-realistic detail, his works capture the quiet erosion of both ecological balance and rural rhythms. Actively resisting nostalgia, instead offering a poignant meditation on loss, memory, and environmental degradation, Morphology of Water invites viewers to reflect on the ecological constraints of human neglect.
Article By:
Sohini Bagchi
Contributor
