Akar Prakar Opens New Delhi Gallery Space With Exhibition 'Becoming'
Akar Prakar has launched its new gallery space in Delhi with an exhibition titled "Becoming", curated by Siddhi Shailendra. The inaugural showcase brings together works by six prominent artists: C. Douglas, Debasish Mukherjee, Ganesh Haloi, Jayashree Chakravarty, Leang Seckon, and Manish Pushkale.
The exhibition examines artistic evolution across six distinct practices that have developed over several decades. It presents works engaging with themes of abstraction, memory, landscape, ecology, architecture, and history. Rather than following a single restrictive theme, the curation places the artists' practices in dialogue with one another, highlighting both the similarities and differences in how they approach material, memory, and physical surroundings.
According to the curatorial framing, "Becoming" investigates how visual languages transform through sustained engagement with material, personal experience, and form over extended careers. The juxtaposition of works allows viewers to observe how each artist's individual method and conceptual language have shifted over time.
The newly unveiled gallery space was designed by architect Ashish Karode. Built with an adaptable layout, the venue is intended to accommodate diverse scales and formats of creative work, ranging from painting and sculpture to installations and moving-image practices. The interior incorporates a restrained material palette, non-reflective finishes, and museum-grade lighting to support various display requirements.
Akar Prakar was established in 2004 by founders Reena Lath and Abhijit Lath. Speaking on the opening of the new Delhi location, the founders noted that the space represents a significant expansion in the gallery's direction.
"We are glad to move into the next phase of our journey with a renewed vision to include more younger voices and practices while keeping our roots of three generations of building collections in place," said Reena Lath and Abhijit Lath. "Along with a new space, our refreshed identity signifies a more free-flowing approach, much like the gallery itself, envisioned to accommodate fresh voices in contemporary art."
