Equilibrium or extinction? This New Delhi exhibition interrogates the cost of human progress

This month, a significant dialogue on the relationship between humanity and the environment opens at Anant Art Gallery’s newly inaugurated space in Safdarjung Enclave. Titled The Teeming Earth, the exhibition is a landmark group showcase curated by Girish Shahane, featuring 26 contemporary artists whose work spans the vast, often turbulent history of the Anthropocene.

Artists of various stature come together for this exhibition

Running from 30 January to 14 March 2026, the exhibition explores how Homo sapiens transitioned from moulding ecology for survival to the complex, industrialised reality of the modern era. Through a diverse range of media, including painting and sculpture, the show examines the opposing instincts that define human history: creation and depletion, empathy and excess.

The curation brings together a formidable lineup of Indian artistic voices. Ravi Agarwal and Atul Bhalla engage with the ecological as both subject and site, while Atul Dodiya and Sudhir Patwardhan utilise nuanced painterly vocabularies to revisit historical and civic themes. Newer voices like Aditya Puthur and Abhishek Narayan Verma offer a different perspective, tracing lived experience through a lens of unsentimental figuration.

The exhibition does not shy away from the darker aspects of human progress. Curator Girish Shahane notes that while our presence often harms the natural world, there is a distinct moral and aesthetic quality in how we value what we endanger. Girish observes:

“Humankind has never lived in harmony with nature, but there is a chance we will stop short of destroying it entirely and ourselves in the process.”

This sense of "hopeful equilibrium" is a recurring theme throughout the gallery’s multi-storied halls. The artworks collectively consider abundance and fragility, suggesting that while the impact of the Anthropocene is irreversible, our capacity for empathy remains a regenerative force. Mamta Singhania, Founder-Director of the gallery, describes the show as an invitation to reflect on the human condition while celebrating the potential that binds art and life together.

By grounding critical, research-led practices in a space designed for reflection, The Teeming Earth encourages visitors to look beyond the present crisis and imagine a future based on coexistence rather than consumption.

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