Dedicated to Women, Sabha Gallery’s recent exhibition explores the layered emotional landscapes of womanhood through a series of oil-on-canvas abstract landscapes. Rather than depicting the female form directly, the works create contemplative spaces that reflect the emotional spectrum of women’s experiences. Shades of Grey by Aalekh Arts & Culture Foundation is a contemporary exhibition rendered in tonal greys, shifting horizons and textured atmospheres by Divyaman Singh
You’ve chosen to explore womanhood without depicting the female form. Was there a specific moment or observation that led you to believe that a landscape was a more accurate medium for the female experience than the body itself?
I have always felt that emotions are more powerful than physical form. Womanhood, to me, isn’t defined by how a woman looks, but by what she feels. Landscapes became a natural way to express those emotions — calm, strength, silence, intensity — without confining them to a body. It allows the experience to remain open, more fluid and perhaps more universally relatable.
Is your choice of a tonal grey palette a commentary on the unseen labour or the internal quietude of women?
Yes, in a way. Grey represents that in-between space for me. The space where a quiet, often unacknowledged strength exists. It reflects the inner emotional world of women, the weight of what is carried but not always expressed. It’s not a flat or muted colour; it holds depth, nuance and many layers within it.
When working in a monochromatic palette for an entire series, how does it affect your own mood or perception of colour once you step out of the studio?
I have often worked within a restrained, dual-toned palette, so limiting colour wasn’t unfamiliar. However, working exclusively with greys made the process far more introspective. It pushed me to observe more closely — light, mood and the most subtle tonal shifts that might otherwise go unnoticed. At the same time, the series was emotionally intense. Spending extended periods within this tonal range often led me inward, sometimes into heavier emotional spaces. There were moments when the process felt weighty, as though I was sitting with certain feelings longer than usual. But that’s also what made the work honest. Grey simplifies what you see, but deepens what you feel. In many ways, it became a reflection of how I process emotion — translating it into something quieter, more restrained, yet deeply present
Your horizons are described as shifting. Technically, how do you manipulate the oil medium to keep a horizon from feeling static?
I consciously keep the horizons soft and undefined. Sharplines tend to make a landscape feel fixed, whereas I want it to feel alive — almost as if it’s shifting or breathing. I built the surface gradually through thin layers of oil, allowing each layer to subtly interact with the next. I also work with a mix of brushes and palette knives and at times use linen cloth to blur and soften certain areas. This process helps dissolve rigidity and introduces a more organic, fluid quality. For me, the horizon is less a line and more an emotional state, something constantly in flux rather than something still.
Is the physical size of your artworks intended to impact the viewer? Is there a narrative arc on how they are meant to be experienced?
Scale plays an important role in how the work is experienced. Larger canvases allow the viewer to feel immersed, almost as if they are stepping into the landscape rather than observing it from a distance. That sense of immersion creates a stronger emotional connection. At the same time, working on a larger scale gives me greater freedom in how I express and build the work. There is a loose continuity across the series, but each work is also complete in itself. Together, they reflect different emotional states, almost like fragments or moments within a larger journey, rather than a single, linear narrative.
Take us through an artwork from this show that would best define it for our readers?
Unspoken Calm comes closest to defining the series. It holds the stillness, the layering and the subtle shifts within grey that I was trying to explore. It feels the most resolved, both emotionally and visually, in expressing the essence of this body of work.