"A Pan African Mission" Film Screening By Mats Hjelm

 About the Film

Filmed over three years in a bankrupt Detroit and a war-torn Liberia struggling to reinvent itself, Swedish director Mats Hjelm (Black Nation, 2008) follows the trajectory of African-American entrepreneur Anthony Kojo Darden's plans to help rebuild a new Liberia. Kojo first visits Liberia with the Pan African Orthodox Christian Church, aka the Shrine of the Black Madonna from Detroit, to help with their missionary work. In Monrovia, he meets Preston Papa Jackson, a former Liberian street kid turned into an ambitious social worker willing to fulfill Kojo's plans if only Kojo would let him.
Produced by Herrlander Pictures, Kojo's personal journey to Africa is interspersed with the history of Black America, the Civil Rights movement, and the history of Liberia as a symbol of Black freedom. While being the site of one of the bloodiest civil wars in recent history, Liberia is now heavily dependent on foreign aid to get back on its feet. Will Kojo be able to make a difference there? Will Preston get the help he needs?

"Faith & Patience" Solo show by Kapila Nahender

In current times, where religion is doubted and questioned, Kapila is an artist who believes and invests in personal faith in a secular and cosmopolitan context. Her works are an evolution from her earlier practice of spontaneous drawing and application of colour to her layered canvases that are often loaded with signs, symbols, and calligraphy, subjectively involved in memory and loss, conflict and change, and the eternal hope from seeking and investing in acts of constant repetition of the sacred word, a mantra like a riyaaz. 

The new set of works is layered like a palimpsest of flower petals, talismans, sacred wrappings of fabric that contain the energy of sculpture, and icons of faith. Traditionally, icons are wrapped and arranged. This imagery comes from her everyday reality of investing in faith, rituals, and the act of visarjan - ritual immersion of icons that dissolve and resurrect in a cycle of the festival seasons. The quest to search for the spiritual in the material is eternal, and the artist invests in the material as a metaphor for hope that nurtures herself through her practice.

Next Step Residency 2023 Open Studio

NEXT-STEP residency 2023, generously supported by the Sher-Gil Sundaram Arts Foundation. 

This year's residency features the following five artists.

Dhiraj Rabha 

Himani Nain 

Lakshya Bhargava 

Madhav Vyas 

Manu Shibi 

Open Studio:

Friday, September 8, 2023. 7PM onwards

On Display till Sunday, September 10. From 11AM - 9PM

About the NEXT-STEP residency program:

The NEXT-STEP residency program provides a platform for five emerging artists to live at 1Shanthiroad studios for a total of four weeks, to have 24/7 access to 1Shanthiroad’s facilities, to produce work individually or collaboratively that culminates into an open studio or final exhibition at the end of the residency. Through peer exchange, mentorship with our in-house staff and artists, and engagement with the local art community through workshops, talks and studio visits, 1Shanthiroad NEXT-STEP residency program strives to provide the artists an environment conducive for bridging the gap between the early stages of their education and their career beginnings.

A soft blanket of plants on tired bodies

 A Soft Blanket Of Plants On Tired Bodies shows drawings on paper by Mohit Mahato and drawings made of graphite, pastel, oil stick, and natural dyes on paper and fabric and an immersive sound installation by Tasneem Lohani. The works question our relationship to leisure time under techno-capitalism while reflecting on plants' slow, restful nature. It explores capitalist hustle culture's effect on our views of productivity and its subsequent impact on our mental faculties and physical bodies.

Mohit, through his meditative practice of drawing, and Tasneem, through her practice of yoga and meditation, explore their kinship with plants. The exhibition probes to make one take a moment to ask what it means to truly rest.

A bit warmer each year’ curated by Manasa Raj and Arpita RG

 The show ‘A bit warmer each year’ curated by Manasa Raj and Arpita RG, is a paradoxical attempt to create a visual dialogue around climate change that we are collectively experiencing across the globe due to the rapid degradation of the environment. The medium is the message- to convey the impact it has on society and the natural world.

This show was commissioned by the zinnov.management.consulting consultant company) as part of their annual engagement with the artistic community and has been a Patron of Art in its various capacities for close to a decade now. 

We are looking forward to seeing you all on the 21st Friday 5 30 PM at 1Shanthiroad

The Ambedkar age digital bookmobile - Display and walkthrough

 Song & literature from the age of Ambedkar

Gay India Matrimony by Debalina(Film screening)

Gay India Matrimony is a 2019 documentary by Debalina that takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the problems and prospects of same-sex marriage in India.

Saturday | April | 8th | 2023 | 6:30 PM |

Negotiations in the Vernacular Art Education

A Presentation by
Nikhil Purohit
Artist, Art Administrator
The session will share a survey of Visual Art pedagogical status in Maharashtra state and various regional interpretations of vernacular practices, along with the projects executed under Faandee programming in Art Education with focus Marathi audiences.

Nikhil Purohit is an artist and arts administrator with interests in art education, pedagogy, art writing, and archival documentation. He heads the initiative Faandee providing documentation and management services. He is associated with the Mohile Parikh Center for Visual Arts for the past twelve years connecting diverse audiences in India and abroad. As Executive Editor he has managed the content of Mumbai based quarterly magazine The Indian Contemporary Art Journal for three years between 2017-2020.
Nikhil has been closely engaged with developing learning methods for art students through Art History, Aesthetics and visual studies at institutions that include Amity University Maharashtra, Sir. J. J. School of Art, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Symbiosis Institute of Design, Sophia, and SNDT Women’s University.

A(muse)ing the self curated by Nandita Shastri

Curatorial Statement: 

Sacred rivers have evermore been personified as female divinities in Indian mythology. These water bodies are particularized as “pure” or “sacred,” though reality may be far from it today. In evidence, the clothing industry too views women as fluid, capable of morphing into any shape they are poured into–obligated to it trends that appear and disappear; obligated to play roles that have been assigned to them and read from scripts that have been designed for them. In correspondence, however, the propensity to both create and annihilate does equate the feminine with water. 

The female body has long been transmuted in the name of culture, customs, and traditions; it has been painted by men, either to serve as the modest Mother Mary or the vanity instilled in Suzannas and Venuses with their mirrors and boudoir scenes, leaving no space for the in between. Curated by Nandita V. Shastri, ‘A(muse)ing the Self’ seeks to provide an all-sensory experience of the ever-evolving feminine. 

Being their own muses and journeying through the landscape of their bodies, the artists assert reclamation of their persona via prisms of pleasure and struggle, eventually leading to the discovery of their sensualities. Early feminists used their bodies too, but aggressively, in order to fight patriarchy and misogyny. In lieu of the former, this exhibition seeks to embrace the indigenous expressions of Sringara and Rati and celebrates the female form not as sexual objects coveted as “possessions”, but rather explores the relationship between women and their “gaze of self.     

The 18 artists that were on display:  

1. Advithi Emmi
2. Amrutha Pradeep 
3. Antara Mukherji
4. Giananjan Kaur Chahal Ilm 
5. Mahima Lakhotia 
6. Manashri Pai Dukle 
7. Munira Nizam Diwan 
8. Pankti Sanghvi   
9. Raksha 
10. Ramona Diaz 
11. Ramyashree R. 
12. Siddhi Bapat  
13. Sol 
14. Triparna Mishra 
15. Vaishnavi R. Manohar 
16. Varsha Ananda 
17. Varshini Chandrashekar 
18. Vijayalakshmi   

How do I show the ocean space you carried inside you? By Abeer Khan & Bharati Kapadia

How do I show the ocean space you carried inside you?

By Abeer Khan & Bharati Kapadia

On Tuesday, 21st February 2023, at 7 pm

HOW DO I SHOW THE OCEAN SPACE YOU CARRIED INSIDE YOU? is a film driven by love and wonder.

It is about two individuals, artists, living, working, and growing together and separately. Through the works of the male protagonist, the film brings to us his sharp commentary on the ethos of his times: growing consumerism and pollution; state violence and repression; and the yearning for freedom, both artistic and personal.

Memories and objects come together to situate these events in the city of Bombay, which is very different from the Mumbai of today.

Inventing for Touch

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 | 9.30 am - 11 am

At 1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery

This February for CreativeMornings talk #76 themed Touch, Paul D'Souza (founder of Touchétech Labs) will talk about the joy of inventing devices that enable the visually impaired to lead better lives.

About the speaker:

Paul D’Souza is an inventor of Braille Display devices and assistive technology for the visually impaired as the founder of Touchetech Labs. What started of as a passion to restore watches and carry out household carpentry, became a full time pursuit for Paul. His inventions include the ‘Tiffy Template’ - a currency note identifying template for the blind, 'Touché' - an affordable Braille E-Reader and 'Roulette' - a freehand drawing tool for the blind. He has been granted eight patents with several yet pending. Contrary to the popular saying, he believes that "invention is the mother of all necessity".

Open Studio 'Under the Pink' by Giulia Essyad

Open Studio
'Under the Pink' 

From our Swiss
Artist-in-Resident

Giulia Essyad

Opening Sat, 28th Jan 2023, 7.30 pm
At 1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery

On view till Mon, 30th Jan 2023, 11 am - 7 pm 

Giulia Essyad is an artist, poet, and performer. Her practice concerns the representation of bodies in public space as well as online, and also engages with the varied forms of alienation that accompany the consumption and production of body images. Her work usually includes photography, video, language, and performances that are presented as installations, on screens and as sculptures. In 2018 (ongoing) she initiated the cycle of works “Blue Period.” The project uses the color blue as a focal point and a signifier of otherness and artificiality.

Essyad presented her institutional debut with the solo show “Selene Blues” at Fri Art Kunsthalle, Fribourg (2020–2021), and premiered BLUEBOT: Awakening, a new video commissioned by DIS for the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement. She received the Kiefer Hablitzel Prize for her work “BERRY CONTENT” in 2021, and is currently on residency with Pro Helvetia India in Bengaluru.

Giulia Essyad's 3-month residency at 1Shanthiroad was made possible by Swiss Arts Council Prohelvetia.

Sites & Observations performance by visiting artist Ieke Trinks(NL) and invited artist Dimple B. Shah

Visiting artist ieke Trinks from the Netherlands, and invited artist Dimple B. Shah from Bangalore, will each perform a piece connecting to the environment where they have traveled and lived. With ‘No answers, just observations, ’ ieke will present a lecture performance wondering how one can live without exhausting the earth. She will share her encounters with a jute sack, an Indian bicycle, and the newspaper bag ‘thonga’.

The idea of Dimple B. Shah’s performance-installation 'Site' under construction is a response to the city of Bangalore, which is always in the process of development of several 'sites' that are under renovation, deconstruction, and where new structures are built to widen the roads, and metros are constructed, and old buildings are demolished.

Pagal Canvas presets Jai Kali Android Wali

 As 1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery turns 20,

we are excited to invite you to the first show of this New Year.Pagal Canvas book launch & an exhibition

of original graphic artwork of & from the book

'Jai Kali Android Wali' 

On: 14th Saturday, from 6 pm onwards.

The show continues to be on display on the 15th Sunday

Gallery Timings: 11 am - 7 pm