Shruti Ghatak: Liminal Space
April 2 – May 2, 2026
First Thursday Art Walk - Thursday, April 2, 5-8pm
Reception & Artist Talk - Sunday, April 12, 11 am-1:30pm
Closing Reception - Saturday, May 2nd, 2pm-4pm
An immersive exploration of myth, material, architecture and and lived experience through paintings and terracotta relief sculptures.
Drawing from India’s rich narrative traditions including mythology, regional folklore, and temple relief sculpture, Ghatak merges painting and sculpture to create layered, dreamlike terrains. Her work reflects on women empowerment and cultural hybridity, weaving personal and collective histories into visual narratives that feel both timeless and deeply present.
At the center of the exhibition is the 'Dupatta', a South Asian garment traditionally intended to cover the chest of an already dressed woman’s body-often functioning as a marker of modesty shaped by social expectation. In these works, however, the dupatta is reimagined not as a constraint but as a tool of imagination and freedom.
The figures transform the fabric into something expansive and playful. A cape unfurling behind them like that of a superhero, or a parachute-like wing that allows them to glide through the night sky. In these gestures, the cloth becomes a vehicle of transformation. What was once meant to regulate the body becomes a symbol of flight, possibility, and self-authored identity. The dupatta shifts from an object of social discipline into a material of agency, something that moves with the body rather than restricting it.