The Urban Traditional: A group art exhibition

The Urban Traditional, a group exhibition presented by Ochre Art and curated by Georgina Maddox, will be held at Alliance Française, New Delhi, from September 10 to 13. The exhibition brings together ten contemporary artists who reinterpret folk and traditional visual languages through the lens of urban life, globalisation and contemporary practice.

Featuring Ankon Mitra, Avijit Mukherjee, Anirul I, Hiral Bhagat, Manisha Agrawal, Madhu Kurvua, Priya Janghu, Sangam Vankhade, Srini Chowdhury and Vasundhara Tiwari Broota, the exhibition draws on diverse references including miniature painting, stepwells, oral lore, calligraphy, wall hangings, paper scrolls, chandeliers and graffiti.

Rather than presenting these traditions as fixed forms, the exhibition examines how they shift and acquire new meanings when they encounter urbanisation, global circulation and contemporary ways of living. The works explore the space between continuity and rupture, asking what is retained, transformed or reinvented in the process.

Curator Georgina Maddox describes the exhibition as an inquiry into the reconfiguration of traditional languages of making through urbanisation and globalisation. The works, she says, trace a movement from “what was” to “what is”, while opening questions around cultural memory, continuity, translation and reinvention.

The exhibition has been developed collaboratively by Maddox and Vipula Bhrany Monga, Founder and Curator of Ochre Art. It brings together artists associated with the gallery as well as artists introduced through Maddox’s earlier curatorial engagements.

According to Monga, the exhibition reflects the ways tradition evolves in modern contexts. The works acknowledge the complexities of cultural dilution and commercialisation while also exploring the creative possibilities of hybridity.

Through varied materials, techniques and visual vocabularies, The Urban Traditional explores how inherited forms can remain connected to cultural memory while responding to the changing realities of contemporary cities.

When: September 10–13; 11 AM to 7 PM

Where: Alliance Française, New Delhi