Curatorial Vision

Adventures in the Magical Landscapes

अरण्यान्यरण्यान्यसौ याऽ प्रेवानश्यसि
कथां ग्रामं न पृच्छसि न त्वा भीरु वा विन्दथी।
वृषारवाय वदते यदुपावतिच्छिचिकः
आघाटिभिर्वा धाव यन्नारण्यं निर्महि यते॥

“O Aranyāṇī, You wander from forest to forest, vanishing from sight. Why don’t you come near the village? The grasshopper chirps, the cicada cries; when the wild-boar bellows or the jackal howls, with anklets you flee through the woods.” - Aranyāṇī Sūkta (Rig Veda 10.146.1–2)

Aranya (अरण्य) means, wilderness or forest,
Kānana (कानन), the beautiful or divine forest,
Prakṛti (प्रकृति), nature or the natural world,
Tāpaovana (तापोवन), meaning Forest of ascetics; a hermitage or spiritual retreat.

These words reflect the significance of forests in ancient Indian culture, not just as natural ecosystems, but also as places for spiritual growth and contemplation.

The beauty of Indian Visual Arts is unique. It’s cultural diversity, its plurality, its wealth of materiality and above all, its deep spiritual and philosophical concepts. I am never tired of saying India is not a country, but a continent with 28 states and 8 union territories and a geographical mass of 3,287,263 square kilometres, larger than Europe.

In the 36 regions of India, each state has its own myriad forms, colours, symbols, icons, metaphors and cultural flag bearers, and this is precisely what makes India unique, where tradition and modernity co-exist, where the tangible and intangible enrich, where the forest dwellers and rural, the tribes and communities live in their magical landscape. And that is why, in this edition, I wanted to explore the concept of ‘The Landscape’.

From the ancients to the contemporary, the landscape is the favourite playing ground of artists, be it the hunter-gatherers, Bhimbetka or agro-pastoral, Vedic or urban settlers, Indus Valley or the leaders of the Mahajanapada, or the first republic laid out by the Mauryan king Chandra Gupta Maurya circa (321–297 BCE).

The term ‘landscapes’ refers to the visible features of an area of land, including physical elements such as landforms, water bodies, vegetation, and human-made structures like buildings and roads. Landscapes can be natural, such as mountains, forests, and deserts or they can be shaped and influenced by human activity, like urban or agricultural landscapes.

From time immemorial, landscapes, be they physical or imagined, have always been a muse for artists, writers, and poets.

Whatever be their medium, ‘Landscapes’ are a recurring leitmotif in the visual and creative expression of artists and writers alike.

As Henry David Thoreau writes, “I love nature, I love the landscape because it is so sincere. It never cheats me. It never jests.”

Claude Monet had his own thoughts regarding landscapes, as he defined it as, “For me, a landscape does not exist in its own right, since its appearance changes at every moment; but the surrounding atmosphere brings it to life – the air and the light which vary continually. For me, it is only the surrounding atmosphere which gives subjects their true value.”

In this fast-changing world, exploring the landscape through multiple languages of artistic expression presents a diverse range of artists.

In a broader sense, landscapes can also refer to:
1. Visual representation: A landscape can be a painting, photograph, or other artistic depiction of a natural or urban scene.
2. Cultural significance: Landscapes can hold cultural, spiritual, or emotional significance for communities, reflecting their history, identity, and relationship with the land.
3. Ecological context: Landscapes can be understood as ecosystems, comprising interconnected living and non-living components that interact and influence one another.
4. Philosophical Representation: A landscape may be understood as a cohesive aesthetic experience, one that embodies the interplay between natural formations and human influence, or serves as a symbolic reflection of cultural, political, and social dynamics.
5. Literary Significance: The landscape functions as more than a mere backdrop; it becomes a symbolic framework that shapes the narrative’s atmosphere, themes, and the emotional states of its characters.

Landscapes can be explored and understood through multiple perspectives:
● Geomorphology: Examines the physical form, structure, and processes that shape the earth’s surface.
● Ecology: Focuses on the interactions between living organisms and their surrounding environment within a landscape.
● Human impact: Looks at how human activities alter and redefine landscapes.

Landscapes remain in a constant state of transformation, shaped by both natural phenomena such as weathering and erosion and by human influences like urbanization, farming, and conservation practices.

To talk about this relationship between the artists and earth, Robert's Smithson said, ‘One’s mind and the earth are in a constant site of erosion…ideas decompose into stones of unknowing.’

Closer home, in India, earth has always been associated with a feminine quality of abundance known as bhoomi, dharti, prithvi. Nature transmutes to be immediate manifestation of God. Nature not just mirrors the multiple existences but builds universal harmony to nurture human sensibility. The artistic practices are the immediate repository of human participation in the ecology balance. Art and Ecology are two key words which are worlds within themselves. Art becoming man’s creative expression and Ecology becoming the space in which man creates. Thus the two become vital significant spaces of creation.

Artistic representation was/is the first visual document of history, and amongst the ancients in India, there was no distinction in the creative expression; an artist could be a poet, painter, dancer or even a village goldsmith. Art and creative expression flourished and were embraced by the community. There were no Silos, no verticals in art.

The indigenous art form of Lepai or Lippan involves women decorating the walls of their homes with clay, creating intricate geometric designs along with human and animal motifs in relief. This traditional practice has flourished for generations, with different tribal and rural communities developing their own distinctive styles of mud-washing and wall embellishment.

Ancient India was very much a regulated and structured canon of art and society, which was established for almost all aspects of art and life. From the Shilpashastras, the Dharma Shastras, Natyashastra, Kamasutra, the Puranic texts, in which the Chitrasutra in the Vishnudhramottara Purana, lays down the cannons for painting.

Yet there is a parallel through the course of Indic wisdom that or received wisdom that of ‘itihasa’, I wish to draw on a terminology from music, the ‘desi and the margi’, where the classical and the little tradition added to each other.

For this edition, while exploring the genre of the landscape, I am enriching my curatorial endeavour by placing the folk and the tribal, the craft and design, with the academically trained fine artists. From Folk to Tribal, from Traditional to Contemporary, from Textile to Technology, from the neuro-diverse to the queer, from devotional to the sacred, this all-inclusive exhibition moves seamlessly through time, space, and materials, celebrating the wonder that is India.

The intrinsic beauty of Indian visual culture is presented organically. I am placing the artists based on materiality, not on the academic training received. This has made my curatorial unfolding more exciting, more dynamic, providing a far greater challenge than ever before.

Dr Alka Pande
Curator, Art Historian, Author
Winter 2026