Foreigners Everywhere! That’s the theme chosen by curator Adriano Pedrosa for The Venice Biennale 2024 featuring 332 artists and exploring multiple interpretations. In spite of not having an Indian pavilion, a strong presence of Indian artists was felt in Venice in the form of several collaterals. The most noteworthy was the very first fully immersive, multi-sensory show of the India’s greatest modernist Maqbool Fida Husain The Rooted Nomad designed by Visioni Eccentriche and presented by Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. One of India’s greatest modernists, Husain is an eminent and internationally recognized Indian artist of the 20^th century. The exhibition of his wooden toys, paintings, photographs, letters, and snippets from his films, collages, and poetry reveals his versatility as an artist, thinker and writer. Held at the Magazzine del Sale in Dorsoduro in Venice this a wonderful tribute to this great artist.

KNMA Chairperson and founder Kiran Nadar said, “More than seven decades since his work was first exhibited at the Venice Biennale, in 1953, KNMA is honored to bring this ambitious project of the life and work of the eminent Indian artist M.F. Husain to Venice, at the moment when the world’s artists come together to create a tapestry that binds us as a global community. We are proud to offer this exhibition free of charge to the public so that as many people as possible can know the lasting impact of one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.”   

The Historical Nucleus section of La Biennale de Venice Central Pavilion located in Giardini featured several well-known Indian artists from Francis Newton Souza; Amrita Shergil to Goa based Monika Correa.  Known for his revolutionary spirit Souza is an artist who has championed complete freedom of expression and led the Progressive Movement. In his Untitled work the artist breathes life into his images with the stroke of his brush and creates hard-hitting images that instantly seizes the viewer’s attention.

The Baroda School’s Bhupen Khakhar’s Fishermen in Goa reveals the bold theme of homosexuality, as the artist addresses issues of identity, that have faced this community.

The pioneering artist of the twentieth-century Jamini Roy depicts the Hindu deity Lord Krishna in The Blue God. Painted in blue, the deity wears a yellow garment and holds a parrot, revealing Roy as a primitivism and modernist artist of his time.

Amrita Sher-Gil is considered one of the greatest avant-garde woman artists of the early 20^th century and a pioneer of Indian art. Her The Head of a Girl appears to be a self-portrait of this Hungarian-Indian artist. An exceptional colorist she often used bold colors in direct contrast to pale hues for the right effect. 

There is a quiet beauty offering a sustained contemplation in Ram Kumar’s Women from his early workswhen he focused on ordinary people’s trials and tribulations. He was one of our renowned Indian artists.

The lyrical mix of color and strong geometrical patterning in SH Raza’s abstract series, Offrande delves indistinct earthy colors like ochre, green burnt ambers deep red and dense black to create a perfect piece.

B. Prabha’s gorgeous woman in languorously Waiting on an unusual deep green background.

Monika Correa’s textile tapestries No Moon Tonight welcomes the celestial universe into Venice.  

Foreigners Everywhere had a different meaning for the transgender community in their site-specific huge mural at Arsenale titled Diaspore (2024). It was a great opportunity for the century’s supressed transgender to celebrate a decade of India’s landmark recognition of the transgender individuals. They had finally found an international platform to voice themselves. They used to feel like foreigners in their own bodies, as they did not belong to the bodies they were born into. For Karnika Bai, Shanthi Muniswamy and Joythi H, the artist from Bangalore based Aravani Art Project, this was a recognition of their freedom. The vividly colored mural reflects their free spirit.

The Chanakya Foundation and Karishma Swali present Cosmic Garden, an ongoing dialogue between Madhavi Parekh, Manu Parekh and Karishma Swali and the Chanakya School of craft at the Salone Verde-Art & Social Club curated by Maria Alicata and Paola Ugolini. The result is their incredible art, sculpture and embroidery exposition. For the first time an exhibition has been curated that brings the art of hand embroidery to the forefront along with other artistic traditions.

Swali mentioned in a publication “At the intersection of art and craft, Cosmic Garden presents embroidery as both an intimate almost meditative art form and a practice with profound social and artistic implications. Especially when it moves beyond the domestic sphere and enters the public realm. Cosmic Garden celebrates India’s diverse beauty and cultural heritage in this bold and experimental initiative.

In her inimitable style, Madhavi Parekh juxtaposes ordinary life in rural India alongside deities including Ganesha, Durga and Kali surrounded by colorful birds, animals and plants in The Village Opera. She creates a wonderful energy by blending childhood memories, folk motifs, legends and figures with abstract subjects. Her sense of color and wonder has an appealing naive quality. The work evokes the light and sensation of wandering in a wonderful space revealing an artist who is lyrically playful with her lines. 

“I believe in Women’s Shakti (power). Our goddesses are worshipped all over India particularly in Bengal where Durga ma is greatly felicitated through a big statue of Durga. My work is greatly inspired by this that is why you will find images of deities in my art. Ever since independence I am glad to observe women are getting a lot of importance and freedom in our country which how it should be,” said Madhavi Parekh.

In Shiva Tandav Manu Parekh blends India’s cultural tapestry with Western Modernism and Abstract as he draws his inspiration from the Shiva Lingam. He interprets Shiva’s dance, consciously moving to pure abstract expressionism using broken lines, stripes, crosses and floral motifs. This exhibition pays a tribute to the beauty of India’s artistic legacies and indigenous art traditions.

Paresh Maity’s sculpture Genesis is on view at Marinaressa Gardens, Riva dei Sette Martiri, and Venice; as part of the collateral exhibtion ‘Personal Structures’ of the Venice Biennale 2024. Organized by the European Cultural Centre and supported by Art Exposure, the sculpture explores the concept of pendulum through the metaphor of life. Similar to life, a pendulum has a balance with its movement. The sculpture is a testimony to the fearlessness of humanity in the face of any dire situation. It represents the powerful and the dynamic union of two energies, the male and female, traditionally depicted as the Shakti in Yogic pose.

“I am honoured to be presenting my sculpture, Genesis at Personal Structures, a biennale contemporary art exhibition during the Venice Biennale. India’s representation at Venice in this landmark edition of the biennale is an important moment for Indian art and I am delighted to be a part of this fraternity,” said Paresh Maity.