Indian Art Now

How do these artists express ideas about life in India today?

During the past 40 years, India’s population has doubled. Many people think that soon more people will live in India than in any other country in the world. Nearly 75 percent of India’s population lives in villages, and the rest live in towns and cities. The three artists featured here address what it means to live in India today, exploring the urban experience, transportation, fashion, and identity.

An elephant and two goats on a busy street.

Suhasini Kejriwal (b.1973), Mutton Street, 2015. Embroidery, print and paint on canvas, 65x81in. (165x205cm). Courtesy of Suhasini Kejriwal and Nature Morte, New Delhi.

How does Kejriwal capture city life in this work?

City Life

Suhasini Kejriwal (soo-HASS-ih-nee KEEJ-ree-wahl) makes artworks about city living. Kejriwal was born in Kolkata, one of the most populous cities in India. Since then, she has lived in several of the largest cities in the world, including New York City and London, England.

Inspired by her own urban experiences, Kejriwal depicts a bustling city street in her 2015 mixed-media work Mutton Street, above. Working with embroidery, printmaking, and paint on canvas, Kejriwal shows people mingling in an open-air market. The scene resembles a typical Indian street. The artist also adds an elephant—an animal which holds special importance in Indian culture and religion— raising its trunk in the center.

When Kejriwal posted this work on Instagram, she used the hashtag #everydayextraordinary. What makes this scene extraordinary?

Many multi-colored concentric circles arranged into a square.

Bharti Kher (b. 1959), The nemesis of nations, 2008. Bindis on wall, site specific, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Bharti Kher, Hauser & Wirth and Serpentine Galleries. Photograph by Hugo Glendinning.

Why does Kher explore the bindi?

Culture vs. Fashion

Bharti Kher (BAR-tee KER) was born in England to Indian parents, and moved to New Delhi as an adult. Today, she creates sculptures and paintings, often challenging India’s cultural norms in her work. To make her 2008 The nemesis of nations, above, Kher reinvents the traditional bindi (BIN-dee), a mark Hindu women often wear on their foreheads. She covers a gallery wall with overlapping circles in a variety of brilliant colors, each representing a larger-than-life bindi.

“Many people believe it’s a traditional symbol of marriage, while others, in the West particularly, see it as a fashion accessory,” Kher explains. “But actually the bindi is meant to represent a third eye—one that forges a link between the real and the spiritual-conceptual worlds.” Kher incorporates the bindi into many of her works. In doing so, she explores the traditional roles of women in both Indian culture and the Hindu religion, as well as the evolution of the bindi as a fashion accessory.

A sculpture of several workers sitting and resting.

Jitish Kallat (b. 1974), Syzygy, 2013. Dental plaster, dimensions variable. Courtesy of Jitish Kallat. Photograph by Anil Rane.

How does Kallat make global connections in his sculpture?

Crowded Commute

Jitish Kallat (JIH-tish KAL-laht) was born in Mumbai and lives in this busy city today. He’s especially interested in how people experience daily life and has made several artworks exploring sleep. In his 2013 Syzygy, above, he investigates the time people spend commuting. He sculpts a group of people waiting in a train or bus station after a long day. The men’s heads dip as they doze, each grasping his belongings as if subconsciously aware that he is not yet in the safety of his own home. Although people in Mumbai inspired Kallat to make this nearly life-sized work, it’s easy to imagine this same scene taking place in another city.

Kejriwal, Kher, and Kallat explore aspects of living in crowded cities, the choices people make about fashion, and even the more mundane aspects of day-to-day life, such as commuting. How does each artist help you understand life in India today?

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