In Their Footsteps

Eleven artists from India and Sri Lanka respond to the scared cities of Varanasi and Anuradhapura, replicating their rhythm and complexities in their work

5 min readMar 25, 2017 12:15 AM IST

Paula Sengupta, Tabo Monastery in Spiti, Stupa of Boudhanath in Kathmandu, Manjunath Kamath,The Man, The Word, The Tree, The Text, Indira Gandhi National Center, Omanthai checkpoint, Renu Modi of Gallery Espace, A Tale of Two Cities,Theertha Yatra, Jagath Weerasinghe, Indira Gandhi National Center, India news, National news Art news India, India Art news, Latest news, India news

Jagath Weerasinghe’s Theertha Yathra; Images Courtesy: Gallery Espace, New Delhi

In the last decade, artist Paula Sengupta has travelled to Buddhist shrines across the world, from Tabo Monastery in Spiti to the Stupa of Boudhanath in Kathmandu. She has followed the trail of The Enlightened One, making observations and taking notes on the varied geographical lands and rituals. A year ago, when she began documenting these journeys, a map seemed most appropriate. Embroidered on hand-pulled silk fans, she decided to share her movement across territories. “By pulling the pankha, I want the viewer to metaphorically be able to travel with me to these sites,” says the Kolkata-based artist.

The imagery on the eight panels suspended from the roof at the Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts in Delhi spans from floral motifs to hilly terrains and figures in military fatigues who have been stationed at the scared locations that have also been sites of violence. Sengupta had also seen men holding guns during her visit to Anuradhapura in 2015. She, along with a group of 10 artists, reached Anuradhapura only two days before the dismantling of the Omanthai checkpoint, the last Sri Lankan army check point which divided the government and LTTE-controlled areas. The timing of the visit was sheer coincidence. The group, brought together by Renu Modi of Gallery Espace and Sri Lanka-based art organisation Theertha, was guided by an endeavour to revisit the sacred sites of Varanasi and Anuradhapura.

Riyas Komu’s Agam Puram;

The outcome is an exhibition titled “A Tale of Two Cities” where the references range from popular iconography to the bustling pilgrimage sites as well as the violent political histories. If in his acrylic on canvas Theertha Yatra, Jagath Weerasinghe presents “religiosity as a position of power”, Bandu Nanamperi picks from what is left behind: the ashes on the ghats of Varanasi and the sandakadapahana (moonstone) in Anuradhapura. His fiberglass and resin sculptures Charcoal Journey reflect cultural complexities and ideologies. Like Sengupta, Anoli Perera too has mappings on textile. She, though, reflects on the journey of the pilgrims who describe a particular site as sacred and pure. Manisha Parekh, herself, becomes the pilgrim. If in her abstract watercolour series A Chant, she depicts the calm of Anuradhapura in pale blue and white, in the series “Home Shrine” the bright shades represent the energy of Varanasi.

There are other depictions that are more open-ended. Manjunath Kamath’s terracotta, iron and cement sculptures titled Restored Poems is an assemblage of half-finished sculptures that are joined together to make a form. There is, for instance, a sculpture of two Buddha idols facing each other, one Indian and the other a Sri Lankan depiction of the sage. “The work trains and retrains our sight, our perspective, our ways of seeing — while contending with the discursive limits and possibilities of how meaning is culturally produced through the practices of art and architecture, as well as popular iconography,” notes Ruhanie Perera, curatorial advisor.

Ram Rahman’s Vesagiri

Weaving the past and the present, the political and the spiritual, is also Delhi-based photojournalist Ram Rahman. He uses photographs and text in his installation The Man, The Word, The Tree, The Text, where excerpts from ancient texts are juxtaposed with photographs from trips to Sarnath and Anuradhapura, and video grabs of the LTTE massacre at Sri Maha Bodhi in 1985. The wall panels also have newspaper reports on the violence propagated by extremist Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka, Modi’s controversial selfie outside a polling booth in Ahmedabad in 2014 and an image of Rohith Vemula holding a large painting of BR Ambedkar outside his hostel at the University of Hyderabad shortly after being evicted. “I wanted to create an explosion of juxtapositions that would engage with the cyclical processes of constructing and destroying the ‘Buddha’ through different retrievals of history,” says Rahman.

Riyas Komu, on the other hand, brings Buddha to the contemporary times. He casts him as a young prince in a stone bust, someone, he feels, was as confused as he is regarding the existing conflicts. In another work, he places a broken Ashoka Lion in a glass case — shattered and helpless. “Nehru had adopted the Lion symbol as a national symbol to retrieve multiculturalism and diversity. But today, there is a dislocation in the interests, and an attempt at monoculturalism,” says Komu, as he prompts viewers to draw their own connections between the past and the present and an alteration even in the meaning of the numerous symbols associated with Buddhism.

The exhibition is on at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Delhi, till March 31. A curated walk and panel discussion will be held at the venue on March 29

Vandana Kalra

Vandana Kalra is an art critic and Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. She has spent more than two decades chronicling arts, culture and everyday life, with modern and contemporary art at the heart of her practice. With a sustained engagement in the arts and a deep understanding of India’s cultural ecosystem, she is regarded as a distinctive and authoritative voice in contemporary art journalism in India. Vandana Kalra's career has unfolded in step with the shifting contours of India’s cultural landscape, from the rise of the Indian art market to the growing prominence of global biennales and fairs. Closely tracking its ebbs and surges, she reports from studios, galleries, museums and exhibition spaces and has covered major Indian and international art fairs, museum exhibitions and biennales, including the Venice Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Documenta, Islamic Arts Biennale. She has also been invited to cover landmark moments in modern Indian art, including SH Raza’s exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the opening of the MF Husain Museum in Doha, reflecting her long engagement with the legacies of India’s modern masters. Alongside her writing, she applies a keen editorial sensibility, shaping and editing art and cultural coverage into informed, cohesive narratives. Through incisive features, interviews and critical reviews, she brings clarity to complex artistic conversations, foregrounding questions of process, patronage, craft, identity and cultural memory. The Global Art Circuit: She provides extensive coverage of major events like the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Serendipity Arts Festival, and high-profile international auctions. Artist Spotlights: She writes in-depth features on modern masters (like M.F. Husain) and contemporary performance artists (like Marina Abramović). Art and Labor: A recurring theme in her writing is how art reflects the lives of the marginalized, including migrants, farmers, and labourers. Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent portfolio is dominated by the coverage of the 2025 art season in India: 1. Kochi-Muziris Biennale & Serendipity Arts Festival "At Serendipity Arts Festival, a 'Shark Tank' of sorts for art and crafts startups" (Dec 20, 2025): On how a new incubator is helping artisans pitch products to investors. "Artist Birender Yadav's work gives voice to the migrant self" (Dec 17, 2025): A profile of an artist whose decade-long practice focuses on brick kiln workers. "At Kochi-Muziris Biennale, a farmer’s son from Patiala uses his art to draw attention to Delhi’s polluted air" (Dec 16, 2025). "Kochi Biennale showstopper Marina Abramović, a pioneer in performance art" (Dec 7, 2025): An interview with the world-renowned artist on the power of reinvention. 2. M.F. Husain & Modernism "Inside the new MF Husain Museum in Qatar" (Nov 29, 2025): A three-part series on the opening of Lawh Wa Qalam in Doha, exploring how a 2008 sketch became the architectural core of the museum. "Doha opens Lawh Wa Qalam: Celebrating the modernist's global legacy" (Nov 29, 2025). 3. Art Market & Records "Frida Kahlo sets record for the most expensive work by a female artist" (Nov 21, 2025): On Kahlo's canvas The Dream (The Bed) selling for $54.7 million. "All you need to know about Klimt’s canvas that is now the most expensive modern artwork" (Nov 19, 2025). "What’s special about a $12.1 million gold toilet?" (Nov 19, 2025): A quirky look at a flushable 18-karat gold artwork. 4. Art Education & History "Art as play: How process-driven activities are changing the way children learn art in India" (Nov 23, 2025). "A glimpse of Goa's layered history at Serendipity Arts Festival" (Dec 9, 2025): Exploring historical landmarks as venues for contemporary art. Signature Beats Vandana is known for her investigative approach to the art economy, having recently written about "Who funds the Kochi-Muziris Biennale?" (Dec 11, 2025), detailing the role of "Platinum Benefactors." She also explores the spiritual and geometric aspects of art, as seen in her retrospective on artist Akkitham Narayanan and the history of the Cholamandal Artists' Village (Nov 22, 2025). ... Read More

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