10 new art shows in India we’re excited about this September

From a textile-based art show by women artists in Mumbai to a dekko at some of the best diaspora artists through a show in Jaipur

If August was the month of patriotism, September ushers in the festive spirit, and with it, a lineup of new art shows in India that set the tone for the season ahead. To celebrate the spirit of a city, DAG brings to Delhi its first edition of The City as a Museum after successful stints in Kolkata and Mumbai. From September 6th to 12th, exhibitions, talks, performances and walks will take place all over the city, from iconic institutions and historic sites to artists’ communities and spaces for art activism, promising a grand salute to a historical city. For those headed to the capital’s India Habitat Centre, Voyages: The Ancient Maritime Silk Route explores ancient maritime connections between Kerala, Odisha and Southeast Asia through textiles and sculptures. Below is our pick of other exhibitions to catch this month: Kaal Netra – Sacred Matrices by Seema Kohli at NGMA, Bengaluru Veteran artist Seema Kohli, who has been creating for the last 40 years, is known for her expansive artworks that traverse themes of feminism, power, spirituality and mythology. A new retrospective in the garden city that spans the last 20 years of her journey takes a look at over 150 major works that have defined her practice. From painting and video to installations and performance art, Kaal Netra brings to viewers Kohli at her finest, showcasing her layered artistic vocabulary through many striking creations. On view at NGMA, Manikyavelu Mansion, Palace Road, Vasanth Nagar, Bengaluru until 22nd September 2025 The Shadows of Absence by Tom Vattakuzhy at Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi A single glance at one of his paintings can bring out feelings of melancholy or nostalgia for a simpler time. Baroda-trained artist Tom Vattakuzhy is known for his restrained style and the realism of his paintings that are influenced by literature and humanist thought, and showcase the simplicity of Kerala’s domestic life. For the first time in India, this exhibition is displaying 16 recent works created by the artistic maestro which invite viewers into his world to experience the emotional range of his creations. “At a time when the role of painting is increasingly questioned in the face of conceptual and digital trends, The Shadows of Absence quietly but powerfully reaffirms the medium’s capacity to reflect, reveal and remember,” says art historian and show curator R. Siva Kumar about the importance of Vattakuzhy’s work. On view at Vadehra Art Gallery, D-53 Defence Colony, New Delhi until 13th September 2025 An Index of Disobedience by Bharathesh GD at Fulcrum, Mumbai A picture can speak a thousand words, and it can also be a strong medium of propaganda in a tense political climate. In an aim to showcase and confront the cultural and political concerns of modern times, Bengaluru-based artist Bharathesh GD has on display large-scale painted plywood cutouts, a series of drawings and sculptural assemblages at his latest solo show in Mumbai. Curated by Amshu Chukki, the hard-hitting but visually striking exhibition brings out Bharathesh’s anxieties of the times we live in, alongside offering a visual critique of capitalism and the state of our democracy as it is today. On view at Fulcrum, 116, 23 Great Western Buildings, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai until 27th September 2025 Non-Residency at Jaipur Centre for Art, Jaipur Jaipur Centre for Art brings the Indian artist diaspora to local audiences, offering viewers a dekko at some of the best artworks by many talented creators. Curated by Rajiv Menon, founder of Los Angeles–based gallery Rajiv Menon Contemporary, Non-Residency features works by 14 diasporic artists, including Rajni Perera, Suchitra Mattai, Melissa Joseph and Shyama Golden, who draw inspiration from their roots within each of their creations. This cross-cultural collaboration aims to explore and bring closer to local shores the cultural and aesthetic impact of our sprawling diaspora population. On view at Jaipur Centre for Art, City Palace, Gangori Bazaar, Jaipur until 8th September 2025 The Body of the Ascetic at DAG, New Delhi One cannot talk about the culture or history of the subcontinent without focusing on the spirituality that is comprised of so many different faiths and belief systems. Be it Jainism or Sufism, ascetics are seen across religions and sects and hold an important place in Indian culture. A new exhibition curated by Gayatri Sinha takes an artistic deep dive into this ancient discipline, starting from 18th-century paintings and continuing into the modern day, featuring works by Marius Bauer, William Daniell, Bikash Bhattacharjee and M. A. R. Chughtai. This in-depth artistic look at the body of the ascetic aims to showcase both their changing face through history as well as their importance in the modern world. On view at DAG, 22A, Janpath Road, Windsor Place, New Delhi until 18th October 2025 Mashrabiya by Praneet Soi at Experimenter, Kolkata Kolkata-born artist Praneet Soi has been as immersed in the works of craftspeople in Srinagar as he has with porcelain craftspeople in Guangzhou, China, combined with his own practice in Amsterdam, where he currently lives. Bringing together these varied artistic forms and showcasing his own perspective, Soi’s latest exhibition investigates the migration of form through different techniques. Taking its title from the Arabic word for the latticed wooden window found in medieval Islamic architecture, the exhibition features striking works in painting, sculpture, painted papier mâché and porcelain tiles, showcasing Soi’s constant and intriguing experimentation with image tropes. On view at Experimenter, 2/1 Hindustan Road, Kolkata until 26th September 2025 Where the River Meets the Sea at Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art, Mumbai Textile-based art is once again beginning to hold its own in our vast art landscape as more practitioners return to the medium as a form of artistic expression. A new show in Mumbai celebrates textile-based practices by bringing together the works of six women artists on one platform, showcasing the form’s many possibilities. Featuring creations by Alamu Kumaresan, Aparajita Jain Mahajan, Dr. Savia Viegas, Hansika Sharma, Lakshmi Madhavan and Meenakshi Nihalani, the exhibition, conceptualised by Anupa Mehta with curatorial text by historian and curator Lina Vincent, celebrates feminism, a strong artistic vocabulary and women’s voices in the world of contemporary art. On view at Anupa Mehta Contemporary Art, 58, Wodehouse Road, Colaba, Mumbai until 11th September 2025 Touching Light: A Prelude to the Bicentennial of Photography (1827–2027) at Museo Camera, Centre for the Photographic Arts, Gurugram 200 years ago, French inventor Nicéphore Niépce created the world’s first photographic image. Since then, the medium of photography has captured for posterity culture, histories, socio-political events, personal lives and changing worlds, and continues to impact the globe in various ways. Paying tribute to the craft of analogue photography in India, Touching Light, curated by Aditya Arya, brings together rare historical photographs alongside works by 28 contemporary Indian photographers, including Serena Chopra, Rohit Chawla, Pradeep Dasgupta, Prashant Panjiar and Ram Rahman, among others. Including archival treasures from the Bourne & Shepherd Studio as well as analogue silver prints, chemigrams and diapositives, this journey into India’s history of photography as an art form is an unmissable exhibit for fans of the craft and aspiring photographers alike. On view at Museo Camera, Centre for the Photographic Arts, Shri Ganesh Mandir Marg, Sector 28, DLF Phase IV, Gurugram until 29th September 2025 Salon: The India Way at Nature Morte, Mumbai Galleries across the country are constantly trying to reinvent the wheel and find new ways of preserving and showcasing art. Nature Morte’s new Salon series is dedicated to presenting the best of international and Indian modern art for the collector as well as bridging the gap between the two. The first of this series, curated by Poonji Nath, reimagines art histories through a global lens. This exhibition brings together, on one common platform, the works of FN Souza, Zarina Hashmi and RH Raza, alongside creations by Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Signac, challenging Eurocentric focuses of Modernism in art by displaying both Indian and international names on the same white walls. Conceived by gallerist Devashi Jain, the series promises accessibility to all within the art ecosystem. On view at Nature Morte, 3rd Floor, A Block, Dhanraj Mahal, Colaba, Mumbai until 15th September 2025 The Parliament Is Now in Session at Method, New Delhi & Mumbai Dissent, identity, freedom, resistance—these words mean so much in any free, democratic country, and yet, these ideals are constantly challenged in the contemporary world as we know it. A new group exhibition takes a look at freedom as a symbol of expression and the freedom of our lived realities through various hard-hitting artworks in diverse media. Featuring creations by Gigi Scaria, Gurdev Singh, Mohammed Imtiyaz, Gargi Chandola, Prabhakar Pachpute, Tahsin Akhtar and Zoya Singh across Method’s galleries in Delhi and Mumbai, this show is an artistic form of resistance, a form of strong expression at a time when most others are silenced or punished. On view at Method, D-59, Defence Colony, New Delhi and Method, 86, Nagindas Master Road, Fort, Mumbai until 21st September 2025

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