Hyderabad exhibition showcases Indian artists reimagining tradition

The city is gearing up to host a group exhibition that promises to linger in your thoughts long after you leave. Forms of Being is a group show of Indian contemporary artists, running for a month, bringing together a spectrum of voices — masters, mid-career practitioners and emerging talents — in a conversation that spans memory, identity, tradition and modernity. This isn’t a show with a single theme; it’s a space where stories collide, where personal histories meet collective experience and where every brushstroke, print and texture becomes a point of reflection.

The gallery will showcase works by 16 different artists, representing their different mediums, faith and introspection, and how their works vary yet align with each other’s. These works respond to contemporary realities like social tensions, cultural identity, the rhythm of life, all rendered through layered textures, symbolism, mixed media, prints, acrylic washes and water colours. “I see tradition as something alive — not something to worship or reject,” says Jaswanth KD, one of the artists whose pieces are going to be a part of this exhibition. “I take fragments from heritage and make them collide with what’s happening now. It’s like arguing with your own history — just to make it speak again,” and that dialogue runs through the entire show.

Srinivas Tingeerkar — another one of the artists amongst the many — reflects on art as conversation. “Each piece serves as a dialogue between the world around me and the personal echoes of my past and present,” he says. Anand Gadapa emphasises on the layers of memory and the art of discovery stating that “Nothing is ordinary and mundane. I always try to bring forth the unknown from the known.” His words capture the show’s energy — of looking closely, of uncovering silent layers of meaning in what surrounds us.