from October 30th to November 9th, 2025 at Kamla Devi Complex, India International Centre, New Delhi
The India International Centre proudly presents ‘Weaving Water: Feminine Countercultures in Paint and Print’, an inspiring exhibition curated by Jyoti A Kathpalia. Opening on Thursday, October 30th, 2025 at 5:00 pm in the presence of Chief Guests Prof. Ashis Nandy, Political Psychologist & Social Theorist, Emeritus Fellow, CSDS (New Delhi), Shri K. N. Shrivastava, IAS (Retd.), Director, India International Centre and writer Padma Shri Ajeet Cour at the Main Art Gallery in Kamla Devi Complex, India International Centre, New Delhi, this exhibition runs until November 9th, 2025.
The exhibition features fearless writings of Padma Shri Ajeet Cour alongside visual responses from India’s most esteemed women artists, creating a compelling narrative around gender, inequality, and the envisioning of alternative cultures.
The exhibition draws inspiration from the strength of independent and courageous women who are trying to make themselves heard, an oppressive middle class family structure, through the spectacular medium of Ajeet Cour’s words and vivid artworks by eminent Indian artists: Anupam Sud, Aparna Anand Singh, Aradhna Tandon, Arpana Caur, Bula Bhattacharya, Durga Kainthola, Gogi Saroj Pal, Hemavathy Guha, Jayasri Burman, Kanchan Chander, Manmeet Devgun, Nitasha Jaini, Shivani Aggarwal, Shubhika Lal, Vasudha Thozhur.
In addition to the visual responses, the exhibition will include a ten minutes performance by Manmeet Devgun based on Water Weaver, the 30 minutes Sahitya Akademi film on the author, renditions of passages from the autobiography in its original Punjabi language allowing the power and cadence of Cour’s voice to reverberate through both word and image.
The exhibition spans multiple forms and materials, from performance art to painting in oil, acrylic and charcoal, printmaking through silkscreen and etching, mix media, and sculptural and installation-based works.
Ahead of welcoming the art fraternity and connoisseurs, Padma Shri Ajeet Cour said, “I have lived my entire life in a world of writing and letters, and also in the world of art through my daughter Arpana Caur. I have always believed that art and writing are profoundly connected, they both tell stories, convey feelings, and express intensities. We need more such dialogues across disciplines and genres. I am glad that this exhibition brings these modes of expressions together.”
Curator Jyoti A Kathpalia noted, “Gender inequality and oppression are often either glossed over or treated as ordinary, having become a part of day-to-day reality. Behind the apparent perfection of the families, community and society lies silence, hysteria, pained acquiescence or simply the numbing of spirits of countless women. The marginalisation of women and their voices raise larger questions of the search of an alternate, more equal world and the re-visioning of the feminine, an idea that lies at the very heart of this exhibition.”
