How contemporary art captured a changing modern India

It was a different India when Geetha Mehra founded Sakshi Gallery in Chennai in 1986. The economy was largely closed, the Congress dominated politics, the IT boom was still a few years away, Babri Masjid stood intact in Ayodhya, and climate change had yet to become an immediate concern. And there was also “no distinction between modern and contemporary art,” Mehra says.

Sakshi Gallery, which focuses on contemporary art, recently marked its 40th anniversary. Over the years, its exhibitions have brought together artists whose works have reflected a changing India — a history that came into focus at its anniversary exhibition, ‘Of Being and Becoming’, at Travancore Palace, New Delhi. Curated by Manan Shah, the exhibition brought together works by around 50 artists and was on view until September 20.

“I wanted to show how India’s visual arts landscape has changed over the past 40 years,” says Shah.

Hence, what came together were Gulam Mohammed Sheikh’s critiques of communalism and his explorations of spiritual pluralism, alongside G Ravinder Reddy’s iconic female heads. Sujith SN’s recent works from his Elsewhere and Otherwise series drew from the historic botanical text Hortus Malabaricus to examine the ecological and cultural resilience of Kerala, and Pallavi Singh’s lenticular works explored gender identity. 

Sudipta Das’ sculpture offered a heartbreaking depiction of migration, and in Vivek Vilasini’s reinterpretation of The Last Supper, the biblical apostles were replaced by burqa-clad women gathered around a meal against the backdrop of Gaza.

The exhibition also featured works by Vivan Sundaram, Nalini Malani, Ranbir Singh Kaleka, Rekha Rodwittiya, and Thukral and Tagra.

Digital artworks were displayed alongside canvases, while sculptures used materials ranging from paper to fibreglass.

Along with the expanse of the exhibition, what also stood out was how it was structured. Divided into three sections, it traced shifts in India’s political, economic, and cultural landscape, and how those shifts found expression in contemporary art.

Hence, from the late 1980s to 1999, you see the impact of liberalisation and the private sector, which also led to the creation of a new market for art purchases.

“In the 1980s and 1990s, art was never viewed as a financial asset,” says Mehra. “Collectors were driven by passion rather than valuation. There was also a rich dialogue among artists, who frequently critiqued each other's work within a spirit of camaraderie.”

The second section takes you from the early 2000s to 2014, during which the visual language turned minimal, but works became more explicitly political in nature. There was also the rise of video art.

The final section, from 2014 to the present, reflects another shift in India’s political and ideological landscape. The BJP’s emergence as the dominant national political force coincided with growing concerns around surveillance, censorship, and academic freedom, which found political undertones in contemporary art. Metaphors and memes became part of the visual vocabulary; the language remained restrained, but its implications were often provocative.

The shift also unfolded in the art market. While earlier collectors were largely driven by passion, “much of today's collecting is value-driven,” says Mehra. And while modernists such as MF Husain, SH Raza and FN Souza continue to dominate auctions and sales, “contemporary artists, too, are catching up,” adds Shah.