Artist Shrimanti Saha builds a world between real and imagined through her strokes

Baroda-based artist Shrimanti Saha’s artworks are all set to be displayed at the Vadehra Art Gallery under the exhibition titled “Among Things That Grow and Return.” The artist held her last solo in the year 2023 and is back again with her next large-scale solo after two years in New Delhi. The exhibition comprises oil paintings, five of which are large paintings, while 11 of them are smaller autobiographical compositions of sorts.

What makes Shrimanti Saha’s artworks a must-view?

Shrimanti says about her new body of works, “I build worlds in my work that are partially fictional. There’s always an aspect of storytelling and narrative, with events unfolding in ways that aren’t strictly descriptive but often uncertain, even esoteric. It’s like a personal mythology that accommodates many references, an alternative history of sorts.”

Her paintings would take the viewer to a world which blends memories that are expressive, narrative which are known in the pages of literature, encounters that are erudite and yet it is a world which encompasses all contemporary issues under a mythological lens.

She mentions, “It’s about world-building in an open and disruptive landscape, where interiors and exteriors fuse together. Mentally, it’s a whole, inspired by many of my favourite things [...] The ideas of ‘grow’ and ‘return’ signify larger cycles of life, decay, memory, existence, and reflection, underlining the imagery and connecting it across scale and narrative.”

In Among Things That Grow and Return, visitors will be able to see glimpses of various cultures and identities, which in turn inspire the paintings. From interpreted images to organic forms, architecture which is fragmented, characters which are visceral to much more, the paintings take reference from all around us. It is a blend of history and contemporary which in her unique style gives is a voice of its own.

Right from European art history, science fiction, Indo-Persian miniatures and more form the crux of her storytelling through her brush.  Interestingly, one would find a contrast between her larger and smaller works, where the latter is autobiographical in nature and blends her own lived memories and experiences creating a world which is both real and imagined.

What: Among Things that grow and return

Where: Vadehra Art Gallery, New Delhi

When: October 4 – November 1, 2025

Timings: 10 am – 6 pm (Monday – Saturday)

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