Artist Sunetra Lahiri weaves colours onto textile and tells a story straight out of illustrations and memories

A ceiling to mid-floor mural greets the visitors as they enter the first floor of Kolkata Centre for Creativity. Upon closer look, the tapestry has intricate designs hand woven into Tussar, making it colourful, abundant in recognizable motifs and a design which triggers the grey cells. Moving further inside the exhibition are Kantha stitch tapestries, wall art depicting several instances for mythology like Ramayan’s Aranyakand, a wall full of shoal of fishes and a section which transports you to a runway in itself. This is artist Sunetra Lahiri’s two- day exhibition called elemental 2.0 curated by Kounteya Sinha with art direction by Oiendrila Ray Kapur. In short, the exhibition is a multi-sensory experience of embroidered collectibles.

Why should Sunetra Lahiri’s exhibition be on your ‘to-visit’ list?

What immediately catches attention is the artist’s note where she tales the tale of a quiet childhood spent mostly with illustrated books and grandmother’s stories. When asked how much those two factors have left an impact on her and what are the reflections of the same in the exhibition, she mentions, “ What we hear as a child percolates deep inside your consciousness and it comes out. When I was doing Picnic (artwork), it is something we have been going to for a long time but now it’s very organised. Nobody cooks and all; instead there is a caterer. So, I was being nostalgic. My grandmother’s stories were mostly from Sukumar Ray or Gopal Bhanr and other comics. But what she has given me is a sense of fantasy, the sense of a world that is beautiful, simple and innocent. When I make my pieces I want to hold on to that essence. Abstraction or art on violence is a trend, but I think my art is happy. I want people to look at it and feel good.”

Piecing together several embroidered fish on fabric frames runs a wall of fishes that one cannot miss. Each piece, a different fish; and within each fish, a different embroidery. Talking about the same she adds, “These fishes are all coral reef fishes and if you search them on the internet, you would out their exact names. It is so realistic. I think the marine life is so huge, that even if my whole life I continue to work on only fishes, I will still not finish. It’s a fascinating world, the colours, the blending, and such a beautiful world that we are spoiling.”

Each artwork carefully credits both the artist and the artisan spotlighting the collaborative effort in making the art. Sunetra states, “The artisan does the labour and the rest is my work. I have two artisans under me and that is why it takes time to produce this level of intricate perfection. Each artisan works on only one piece since each one has their own stitch style.”

The exhibition was inaugurated in the presence of the who’s who of the cultural fabric of the city. From textile veteran Ruby Palchoudhuri to singer Anupam Roy, entrepreneur Mohua Chatterjee to British Council director, East and North East India, Debanjan Chakrabarti and Calcutta Heritage Collective Founder-trustee Mukul Agarwal and many others.

Elemental 2.0 is on till February 21, 2026 11 am – 8 pm.