Mumbai’s newest gallery, Akara Contemporary, will host gen-next artists

Akara Contemporary, Mumbai's newest art gallery in Colaba.

A mere five-minutes walk from Akara at Churchill Chambers in Colaba is the 100-year-old Amar Chand Mansion, which now also houses Akara Contemporary, the newest art gallery in the city. Akara continues to be counted among one of the leading modern art galleries in the country since 2015, and with Akara Contemporary, they plan to focus their energies on the current and next generation of South Asian and international artists.

Akara founder Puneet Shah is pretty gung-ho about their latest venture. “We started our programming in 2015 with the realisation that no gallery was doing intergenerational exhibitions or showcasing both modern and contemporary art. Seven-eight years into that and with people having more exposure to the arts, we thought it would be nice to do a spin-off both for us and for the market, wherein our current gallery will continue to show the masters and the new gallery focuses only on contemporary. We also want to include Western artists along with the Indian,” he says.

Meghna & Puneet Shah, co-founders of Akara Contemporary.

The heritage structure in which it is housed, is archetypical of the British Raj and designed in an Indo-Saracenic style. With its white geometric balconies, intricate minaret detailing and brown sandstone, the grand structure can be spotted from afar. Inside, one cannot help but admire the high ceilings, decorative arches and floral motifs on the glass-stained windows. The 3,000 sq. ft layout is conducive to large-scale exhibitions.

Speaking of exhibitions, the gallery’s inaugural exhibition is titled "Let Me Tell You a Story" and curated by Lisbon-based curator Luiza Teixeira De Freitas. The two-part exhibition brings together significant artists from around the world who are showing in India for the first time.

In fact, it is also the first time that Freitas is curating an exhibition in India. “I am always cautious about working in places that I have never been to, mostly out of respect for my lack of knowledge towards the context. But Puneet (Shah) was very encouraging and made it clear to me that he was looking for someone used to working under an international context,” says the curator who has done a lot of projects mostly in Latin America and the West Asia. “I am always enthusiastic about knowing new cultures and being able to bring a little of what I am thinking about to dialogue with what is happening in each different city,” she says.

A group of 12 artists — Indian and international — are showing their works in the first part of the exhibition that alludes to the simplest of all opposites — night and day. It brings together a body of work that reflects aspects of nightfall — silence, darkness and the notion of things coming to an end.

Sarah Morris' funnel household gloss paint on canvas, 2021

“There are a myriad of connections that can be made between art and storytelling. In fact, storytelling in its basic concept is one of the most beautiful pillars of the human condition. Not only do we all carry our stories that together became our history, but it is by letting them out into the world to intertwine with others’ stories that life's meshes are made. The exhibition is in itself a story that is told by the many artworks that are combined in the space,” says Freitas adding that her biggest concern when choosing the works was understanding which kind of practice the artist had and how could the story being told be seen and understood within the concept of the whole show,” she says.

Bhagyashree Suthar's Untitled, pen, ink, charcoal, graphite, and silver foil on paper, 72.25 x 55 inches (each panel), 2023.

While Bhagyashree Suthar applies meticulous detail to create forms that oscillate between the man-made and the biological, Rebecca Sharp’s fantastical worlds hold within them an innate sense of intimacy. Mexican artist Rodrigo Hernandez’s own utopian universe finds its rhythm alongside the works of Mona Hatoum and Rivane Neuschwander, both portraying a different distortion of reality. Adding to Sarah Morris’s beautiful night-time painting, are the works of Dhruva Mistry, Darren Almond, Edgardde Souza, and Mounira Al Solh, each creating a striking dialogue of their own.

Tying together the ideas portrayed through the distinct practices of each artist, their works are used as a means of storytelling, and to contextualise international contemporary art to a larger audience.

Akara Contemporary's inaugural exhibition, titled “Let Me Tell You a Story”, is curated by Lisbon-based curator Luiza Teixeira De Freitas.

Freitas is also looking forward to seeing where Akara Contemporary goes from here. “I think it’s a bold and right step for Akara to reinvent itself and step out of its comfort zone, trying a new segment and opening a bigger space. Akara has everything to be a wonderful platform for international contemporary art in India and for Indian contemporary art abroad; and the only way of doing this right is by opening the doors to other artists from different cultures to come in, opening up for dialogue and exchange. I am a strong believer that there is only to gain,” she says.

Let Me Tell You a Story… Part 1 till June 10, 2023 at Akara Contemporary, Amar Chand Mansion, Colaba, Mumbai