In Hampi, red granite boulders rise across the landscape, the Tungabhadra winds through it and hills tied to mythology share the same terrain as temples and monuments — while wildlife thrives across the region, making it a place where the natural and the cultural are hard to separate. Artists Atul Bhalla and Robert Zhao Renhui entered this complicated terrain during a two-month residency in 2025, resulting in Red Rocks, Rivers and Monkeys, which is currently on display at Hampi Art Labs.

Curated by Yasufumi Nakamori and presented in collaboration with Singapore-based The Institutum, the exhibition is the second iteration of a project that began in Singapore. But its real subject is the Tungabhadra Basin — not as a picturesque Hampi postcard, but as an ecosystem shaped by water, rock, wildlife, mythology, human activity and time.

“Rather than simply documenting the landscape, I wanted the exhibition to portray the Tungabhadra Basin as a dynamic, ever-living ecosystem that actively supports local livelihoods and irrigates the land. The artistes captured this beautifully. Their works emerged from immersive, two-month explorations of Hampi and its surrounding regions last year. I developed my own relationship with the region through three separate visits — including my most recent one for the exhibition opening — as well as through photographic archives and research literature, notably the highly respected work of architectural historian Dr George Michell,” Yasufumi reveals.

Atul and Robert experienced the region together, travelling by road and on foot from Vidyanagar Township towards Hampi. Their route took them to the Tungabhadra Dam and Kamalapura Lake, across red granite formations and lush hills, past sacred monuments and through habitats inhabited by monkeys, bears and birds. The timing of their residency was equally significant. Spanning summer and the monsoon, it allowed them to encounter the same geography under dramatically different environmental conditions.

That change becomes important to understanding the work. A landscape is never entirely fixed. Water alters it, weather changes its appearance and wildlife moves through it, while human intervention leaves its own traces. The artists approach this shifting environment from different directions, using photography and video to consider what happens when nature, memory and human presence occupy the same space.

“An exhibition title should distill its essence so that visitors know exactly what to expect. While all three elements are woven throughout the exhibition, each artist addresses them through distinctly different creative methodologies. The exhibition reveals vast lands, intricate water systems, diverse wildlife — such as bears and dogs — and the nuanced ways in which humans share these lands and rich natural resources with other species. Their practices complement one another beautifully. Atul approaches the landscape through a macro-lens, using his camera to explore a broad framework: the river, the dam and the mountain. Conversely, Robert focuses on the microsystems within the same region, closely observing individual species and their occasional interactions with humans,” he shares.

Atul Bhalla’s What the Narihalla Hides (Subsumed Landscape-III) points towards the things a landscape can conceal, while Five Hills for Hanuman brings mythology into a geography already thick with associations. In Evidence I and II, the act of looking itself becomes part of the enquiry. Elsewhere, Lapwing’s Nest on Rocks and A Frog on the Top of the Hill draw attention to smaller forms of life within the expansive terrain. A bird’s nest or a frog perched on a hill may appear incidental against Hampi’s monumental scale, but here they become ways of reading the ecosystem beyond its famous ruins

Robert’s works similarly look at the environment through its inhabitants and its physical character. The three immersive video installations — The Weight of Red, Rock Bros and Waterbowl — extend the exhibition beyond the stillness of photography. Alongside archival pigment prints and archival prints mounted on dibond, the video installations create an encounter with a landscape that is constantly moving, whether through water, animals, weather or human intervention.

“I was interested in how these challenges manifest in the everyday life of the region and how the artists lay bare their broader, more urgent implications for local climate and conservation. It leaves us wondering what this landscape will look like a decade from now and how different the artists’ works might be if captured then,” he tells us.

In this exhibition, Hampi isn’t simply photographed. Instead, its geology, ecology, mythology and layered histories become material for looking. The red of the rocks, the movement of the river and the presence of animals become as important to the story as the monuments that have made Hampi internationally recognisable. In addition to their primary photographic bodies of work, both artists have created a three-channel video installation. These movingimage pieces operate in direct dialogue with one another, creating a rich conceptual loop with their surrounding photographs.

On till November 4. At Hampi Art Labs, JSW Vidyanagar Township

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