Ananta – Infinite Stories, Timeless Voices: Milaaya Art Gallery at Art Mumbai 2025

Milaaya Art Gallery returns to the spotlight this season with Ananta – Infinite Stories, Timeless Voices, a landmark showcase at Art Mumbai 2025, taking place from 13th to 16th November. Ahead of the fair, the gallery hosted an exclusive preview on 11th November at its Mumbai home within Anantara. Curated by Gayatri Khanna, the exhibition brings together an exceptional line-up of artists, including K. K. Hebbar, Ranbir Kaleka, Nikhil Chopra, Jagannath Panda, Seema Kohli, Waswo X. Waswo, Rekha Rodwittiya and Shaurya Kumar, whose works have been reinterpreted through the tactile, contemplative medium of hand embroidery.

Gayatri Khanna’s gallery weaves heritage and modernity through the language of thread

Rooted in the Sanskrit concept of Ananta, meaning “infinite”, the exhibition embodies continuity, transformation and the boundless nature of creation. The show explores how the union of contemporary artistic vision and traditional craftsmanship can evoke a dialogue that transcends time and place. Each work has been meticulously translated into fibre by Milaaya’s master artisans, transforming painting, photography and performance into dimensional embroidered forms. The result is a collection where thread becomes a conduit for memory, emotion and imagination.

A dialogue between artist and artisan

At the heart of Ananta lies the intimate collaboration between the artists and the artisans of Milaaya’s Mumbai atelier. Every composition is hand-stitched with precision and intent, reflecting a harmony of thought and technique. Through this process, embroidery evolves beyond ornamentation, emerging as a narrative tool that bridges modern sensibility with heritage craft.

Speaking about the exhibition, Gayatri Khanna said, “Our aim with Ananta is to show how embroidery can transcend the decorative and become a profound form of storytelling. Every stitch carries the weight of thought, intention and emotion. The artist and artisan work together, not in hierarchy, but in harmony.”

The works reinterpret diverse artistic philosophies. K. K. Hebbar’s poetic modernism captures rhythm and spirituality through threadwork that mirrors his lyrical brushstrokes, as seen in The Birth of the Moon and his celebrated peacock studies. Each took approximately 3,000 hours of embroidery, with fine bullion stitches and raised textures giving form to light and movement. Ranbir Kaleka’s The Blank Letter unfolds as a meditation on longing and silence, realised over 8,000 hours of detailed stitchwork that mirrors the cinematic layering of his visual language.

Nikhil Chopra’s embroidered landscapes, Untitled (Gulmarg) and Goa, trace personal and ecological memory through silk and cotton threads that echo his performative gestures. His pieces took nearly 6,000 hours each, transforming the ethereal tones of pastel and charcoal into textured, tactile form. Seema Kohli’s Between Heaven and Earth – The Golden Womb Series reflects on the cosmic feminine, its soaring hamsa and celestial motifs rendered in glowing silk and metallic threads across 6,000 hours of intricate work.

Jagannath Panda’s Arch of Metropolis II reimagines Delhi’s stepwells as metaphors for resilience and renewal, while Rekha Rodwittiya’s Home Is Wherever You Are speaks of feminine strength and the intergenerational legacies of womanhood. Waswo X. Waswo’s Another Day in Paradise #1 extends his miniature-inspired narratives into a meditation on love and remembrance, completed in 4,500 hours of fine silk embroidery. In contrast, Shaurya Kumar’s interpretations of the Parthenon’s ruins, The West Pediment of the Parthenon and Bodhisattvas and Deities on the West Wall of the Ceiling transform the erosion of stone into the delicacy of micro-stitch, contemplating endurance and decay.

Reviving craft, redefining art

Founded by Gayatri Khanna in 2024, Milaaya Art Gallery was born out of a vision to reposition hand embroidery as a medium of fine art. Following her two-decade journey with Milaaya Embroideries, which supplies intricate craftsmanship to global luxury houses such as Versace, Tom Ford, and, Givenchy, Khanna’s foray into the art world extends her mission of preserving India’s artisanal heritage. Through collaborations with leading artists, the gallery reimagines embroidery as a living, expressive language that connects traditional technique with contemporary thought.

Reflecting on this mission, Khanna explained, “For me, preserving heritage is about allowing it to evolve. When we collaborate with artists, we are creating new pathways for a centuries-old craft to speak to the present moment. It’s a conversation between the past and the future, expressed through a thread.”

The gallery’s work is supported by the Milaaya Art Foundation, which ensures that the artisans whose skills are central to these creations receive both recognition and support. Each exhibition credits the artisans by name beside their works, reinforcing the collaborative nature of every piece. The foundation also provides training, housing and healthcare, safeguarding the continuity of these invaluable crafts for future generations.

A continuum of stories

Ananta – Infinite Stories, Timeless Voices invites viewers to experience art as a continuum where every thread carries the weight of history and the pulse of modernity. Through this exhibition, Milaaya Art Gallery positions embroidery as a medium of thought and storytelling, capable of holding complexity, emotion and philosophy within its fibres. Each artwork reflects a distinct voice yet resonates with a shared human rhythm, a dialogue between artist and artisan, material and meaning, time and timelessness.

In bringing these worlds together, Milaaya Art Gallery reaffirms its role as a space where tradition and innovation coexist, where the tactile and the conceptual, the personal and the universal, converge in quiet harmony. Ananta stands as a meditation on infinity itself, a celebration of stories continually being stitched, unstitched and rewoven into the fabric of our collective imagination.

Exhibition: Ananta – Infinite Stories, Timeless Voices
Presented by: Milaaya Art Gallery by Gayatri Khanna
Venue: Art Mumbai 2025, Mahalaxmi Racecourse
Dates: November 13–16, 2025