Viewing ​​A Story of South Asian Art at Royal Academy of Arts

A moment The Wick have been looking forward to: at the Royal  Academy of Arts in London from 31 October 2025 to 24 February 2026, A Story of South Asian Art is set to be a richly layered exploration of modern and contemporary art from South Asia, seen through the work of the Indian sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee (1949–2015) and the network of artists, teachers and environments that shaped her practice.

At its heart, the exhibition features Mukherjee’s remarkable fibre and hemp-sculptures — large, vibrant organic forms that fuse craft traditions, abstraction, figuration, and nature. These works are placed in dialogue with paintings, drawings, ceramics and prints by artists connected to her — including her parents, Benode Behari Mukherjee and Leela Mukherjee, who taught at the influential art school Kala Bhavana in Santiniketan.

The show is organised thematically and chronologically, mapping places like Santiniketan, Baroda and New Delhi’s Garhi Studios as key incubators in South Asian art history. Alongside Mukherjee and her family, the exhibition also highlights artists such as KG Subramanyan, Jagdish Swaminathan and Nilima Sheikh whose practices contributed to the shaping of Indian modernism. Giving a refreshing, networked narrative, A Story of South Asian Art foregrounds the region’s material innovation and South Asia’s importance and contributions to the evolution of global modernism.