Pushing past the canvas, Emerging Palettes 15 explores how materials become storytellers

What happens when creative minds push the boundaries of traditional art? You get a vibrant mix of stories, materials, and ideas that surprise, move, and inspire. Art, after all, isn’t just about what we see; it’s about what we feel, remember, and imagine. You’ll get to witness a glimpse of it all at Emerging Palettes 15, an exhibition featuring about 11 emerging artists who’ve completed their Master’s in Art over the last four years.

The artists bring forth practices that go beyond paint and canvas

Artists Aaryama Somayaji, Deepanwita Das, Farhin Afza, Hasan Ali Kadiwala, Manu N, Moumita Basak, Nayanjyoti Barman, Nirmal Mondal, Pathik Sahoo, Vishnu CR, and Yogesh Hadiya, bring forth practices that go beyond paint and canvas, engaging with wood, textiles, found objects, and more.

Nayanjyoti Barman from Assam mentions one of his works titled Tech Anxiety. It features a circular cardboard structure with entangled wires, drawing from childhood memories of accompanying his father who was an electrical engineer, to a thermal power station. The industrial chaos and mechanical environment continue to shape his artistic language. However, the work also reflects a current issue in his village in Kokrajhar, Lower Assam. With the government’s recent introduction of smart electricity meters, requiring digital recharges via smartphones, many residents struggle to adapt. “People know how to make calls, but recharging a smart meter is entirely different,” he says. The result is widespread confusion and stress, which he calls a form of “tech anxiety.” Rather than addressing sweeping global issues, he focuses on local realities that he connects with. His ideas emerge organically, through reflection, travel, and everyday observations, giving his work both authenticity and emotional depth.

Another artist, Aaryama Somayaji, who completed her Master’s in Singapore, discusses her paintings, namely, Heirloom Recipe Chart. These are a vibrant, maximalist abstraction of heirloom recipes, drawing from the oral culinary traditions of South Asia. “Our grandmothers never used exact measurements; they’d say things like ‘add a little of this, a pinch of that.’ It’s all very intuitive,” Aaryama explains. Her piece visually captures this ambiguity, layering complex motifs inspired by ingredients, utensils, florals, vegetation, and even creatures.

The artwork also features deliberate gaps in the paper, where the handmade texture is left bare. These spaces, she says, are open to interpretation, either representing forgotten parts of recipes over time or inviting the present generation to add their own twist.

Nirmal Mondal from Murshidabad channels the fading legacy of Bengal’s heritage into his ceramic art, drawing deeply from the region’s cultural shifts post-Partition. He presents delicate miniature recreations of Murshidabad’s iconic structures, such as the Char Bangla temple, Katra Masjid, Gangeswar Jor Bangla Sahib Temple, among others.

“These are places I grew up hearing stories about and seeing with my own eyes,” he says. “With so much lost over time, I feel it’s my way of preserving that legacy.” Using ceramic for its resilience against time and climate, Nirmal’s work becomes a lasting tribute, honouring history while quietly resisting its erosion.

Free entry. On till July 31. 11 am to 7 pm.

At Srishti Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills.

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