The presentation also introduces Italian artist Siro Cugusi to Indian audiences for the first time. His paintings are not positioned as a centrepiece or interruption. Instead, they are placed in relation to surrounding works, allowing formal and material connections to emerge naturally. As Puneet Shah notes, “The fair offered the right scale and visibility to introduce Siro Cugusi’s work thoughtfully to Indian audiences.” The paintings, shaped by surreal figuration and psychological tension, sit comfortably within the booth’s overall emphasis on control and surface.
Materials do much of the talking across the presentation. Marble, ceramic, graphite and paint show signs of pressure, revision and touch. There is little attempt to disguise the process. This interest in how work is made reflects a wider concern with what allows artistic practices to continue beyond the exhibition cycle. In 2025, Akara launched the Artist Mentorship Programme in response to gaps many artists face once formal education ends. “Many younger or independent artists lacked access to guidance around professional development, exhibition-making, conservation, and navigating institutions,” Meghna Shah explains. The programme connects artists with curators, restorers and senior practitioners, addressing practical questions that are often left unspoken.
Painting within the booth extends these concerns in a different direction. Bhagyashree’s works draw from architectural sources that range from temple structures to Gothic cathedrals and modern city grids. These references are layered rather than quoted, building imagined spaces that feel familiar without being specific. Placed alongside sculptural works that prioritise weight and surface, the paintings hold their own, allowing relationships to form through proximity rather than contrast.
India Art Fair provides a context in which this approach makes sense. The audience is accustomed to moving between geographies and practices, and the booth does not over-explain its choices. Connections emerge through looking and re-looking, through noticing how scale, texture and material register differently from one work to the next.
Within the larger fair, where attention is often fragmented, Akara Contemporary’s booth relies on editing rather than scale. The presentation holds together through placement and restraint. It feels neither instructional nor loose. At India Art Fair 2026, Akara Contemporary offers a booth that trusts its artists, its materials and its audience, and allows meaning to build gradually across the space.
February 5-8, 2026, At India Art Fair, Akara Contemporary, Booth B08
