Art Mumbai 2025: Akara Contemporary's curatorial approach focuses on connection through visual language

Akara Contemporary’s presentation at Art Mumbai 2025 is shaped by a desire to bring its represented artists into clear and steady dialogue. The curatorial approach focuses on connection through visual language, encouraging viewers to move with ease through the booth while sensing the subtle relationships that emerge between works.

As Director Puneet Shah notes, “We wanted to create a presentation that allows each artist to speak in their own way while still forming a gentle, cohesive conversation.”

Art Mumbai 2025: Akara Contemporary’s considered dialogue across practices

The selection brings Indian and international artists together without placing emphasis on boundaries or categories. Abstraction forms an important part of this arrangement, with works by Bhagyashree Suthar, Sathi Guin and Trishla Jain offering shifts in tone, gesture and rhythm. These pieces sit in considered contrast with the monochrome and figurative paintings of Saanthia Bulchandani and Utkarsh Makwana, encouraging viewers to reflect on how representation and abstraction intersect on the visual plane.

This exchange continues through a group of sculptural works that introduce new materials and spatial qualities to the booth. Keita Miyazaki’s assemblage blends origami elements with metal, creating a meeting point between delicacy and structure. Tarik Currimbhoy’s stainless steel kinetic sculpture Paisley brings a soft, continuous motion into the space.

Jonathan Trayte’s bronze works offer a playful counterpoint, while Dhruva Mistry’s Woman 5, a bronze from the early 1980s, anchors the presentation with a historical dimension. Together, these sculptures expand the booth’s texture, giving visitors a sense of movement, weight and shifting form.

A central focus of this year’s presentation is the inclusion of new works that highlight the evolving practices of Akara Contemporary’s artists. The gallery places value on showing pieces that reflect changes in scale, material or conceptual direction.

Although the presentation spans a range of styles and mediums, the curation maintains a steady and cohesive flow. Each work retains its own character and presence, yet gentle echoes and shared visual sensibilities allow them to sit comfortably together.

This edition of Art Mumbai builds on the continued evolution of Akara Contemporary’s curatorial direction. Since establishing its Colaba space, the gallery has focused its fair presentations on showcasing the versatility and depth of South Asian artists, while maintaining a strong emphasis on materially driven and conceptually grounded practices.

The 2025 booth advances this vision with a selection that feels measured and ambitious, strengthening the conversations the gallery seeks to foreground.

Akara Contemporary’s Booth C-20 presents a layered and considered experience. It reflects attentiveness to artistic growth, a respect for individual voices and an interest in the points at which practices meet.

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