‘India Awakes: Under the Banyan Tree’

A significant group show of contemporary Indian art, entitled ‘India Awakes: Under the Banyan Tree’ is currently on view at the Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg in Austria. Focusing on contemporary currents and tendency, it complements last year’s much applauded exhibition, ‘Chalo India’, devoted to the established art scene of India.

The new edition incorporates a blend of photography, sculpture, painting and installations. Curator Alka Pande has selected the works by 34 talented artists, including George Martin, Sonia Mehra-Chawla, Sunaina Bhalla, Gautam Bhatia, Zuleikha Chaudhari, Prajjwal Choudhury, Abhishek Hazra, Manisha Jha, Ayesha Kapur, Shreyas Karle, Abir Karmakar, Sandip Pisalkar, Prajakta Potnis, Antonio Puri, Prasad Raghavan, Sumedh Rajendran, Bandeep Singh, Baptist Coehlo, Vibha Galhotra, Gurdeep Singh, Suhasini Kejriwal, and Riyas Komu among others.

The banyan tree in the title symbolizes ‘the miracle that is India’. Marked by a prolific and tightly interwoven aerial root-system, the tree is said to have the miraculous power to grant wishes. Legend has it that Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment while sitting under it in Bodhgaya. Nowadays, the shade-giving tree is a popular place of encounter or recreation.

Karlheinz Essl notes in her preface: “In the context of the exhibit, the banyan tree symbolizes the innovative power of young Indian artists, who are devoting their abundant creative power to an exploration of the developments and themes of tomorrow, and also the prophetic qualities ascribed to artists in India.”

In essence, the ongoing exhibitions of Indian art showcase works that reveal strong connections to their nation’s history and simultaneously echo contemporary realities. They provide viewers with a realistic sense of the prevailing socio-political conditions wherein traditions and structures are being challenged and values being tested even while, much remains as it always has been…

The show was inaugurated by a spectacular live performance by the artist team Zuleikha and Manish Chaudhari. All works for it have been acquired by the Essl Museum and have partly been created specifically for this exhibition.