Sixteen years after it began as a platform for young artists in Hyderabad, Emerging Palettes, mooted by Srishti Art Gallery, continues to introduce art enthusiasts to some of India’s newest contemporary art voices. This year’s edition, presented by the gallery in collaboration with Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad, brings together 10 emerging artists. Selected from more than 300 applications from across India, the exhibition showcases artists working with different mediums.

Many artworks explore themes of memory, identity and belonging using mediums as varied as ceramics, printmaking, sculpture and sound.

Curator Lakshmi Nambiar says one of the defining features of this year’s edition is the multidisciplinary nature of the artists’ practices. “Artists are becoming multidisciplinary,” she says, pointing to their work across sound, performance and sculpture without limiting themselves to a single medium. She also notes that strong applications are increasingly coming from newer art institutions across the country alongside established centres such as Baroda and Santiniketan.

Near the entrance, Sai Gitanjali Poluru’s Woven Sounds — an immersive paper mache installation — invites visitors to step inside the artwork. Created as part of her ongoing research into the relationship between sound and sculpture, the work functions as a listening chamber filled with recorded sounds, generative audio and meditative frequencies.

A trained sculptor and classical vocalist, Poluru sees sound as more than a tool: “Sound is a medium through which I can express myself.” Through Woven Sounds, she hopes visitors will slow down to listen and spend a few moments away from the rush of everyday life.

The Theyyam preparation

Memory and tradition take centrestage in Vishnupriya G P’s work, which draws inspiration from Theyyam, the ritual performance tradition of northern Kerala. Having grown up around the practice, she has spent the last few years researching its stories, history and social significance. Her work focuses on the objects associated with the ritual, particularly the mat used by performers while preparing for Theyyam.

Though many aspects of the ritual have changed over time, the mat is a constant. Using textiles, stitching and found materials, Vishnupriya explores how traditions evolve while retaining connections to their origins. A journal placed accompanying the work encourages visitors to record their own memories and reflections on rituals from their communities. “We are forgetting to appreciate the real essence of Theyyam. We are not always trying to understand why it is performed or the stories behind it.”

Questions of action versus inaction and responsibility emerge in Richardson Benedict’s works, which explore the relationship between individuals and larger social systems. Drawing from his experiences of living in Delhi and Kerala, Benedict examines how authority operates through public imagery, social structures, and everyday interactions. His works depict figures caught between action and observation, asking viewers to consider their own position within larger social and political systems.

Power and suppressed voices

In works such as Conflicts of the Unseen Order, multiple narratives appear to unfold simultaneously, reflecting the chaos and complexity of everyday life. His sculptural work Strangled Screams considers how power is maintained through suppressing voices that speak out and staying silent in the face of power. The works invite the viewers to reflect on the impact of power and authority and the importance of action.

Other participating artists bring their own perspectives to the exhibition. Sayak Mohanta explores ideas of land, migration and home, while Sarvagya J. Nair’s Fundamental Blank examines citizenship and the gap between rights on paper and realities on the ground. Ritwika Ganguly, Shadiya C.K., Ayantika Sajwal and Rahul Ghosh also draw inspiration from personal experiences, memory and everyday life.

(Emerging Palettes is on view at Srishti Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, till July 31)

(The writer is an intern with The Hindu)