Kolkata Art Exhibition: Exploring Land & Nationalism | [Year]

Kolkata is set to host ‘Zameen’ (land), a month-long exhibition beginning Friday, January 9, 2026, showcasing contemporary Indian artists’ perspectives on a subject increasingly central to identity.

Exploring Identity Thru the Lens of ‘Zameen’

The exhibition, running from January 9 to February 8 at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, examines the evolving meaning of land in a rapidly changing world.

• The exhibition features 11 artists, including Vikrant Bhise, Shambhavi Singh, Birender yadav, Debasish Mukherjee, K.R. Sunil, and the late Zarina Hashmi.
• “Zameen” explores land’s cultural and emotional meaning,shifting from a shared resource to a commodity.
• The show responds to a resurgence of divisive forces and the weakening of collective civic life through individual narratives.
• Artist debasish Mukherjee highlights the exhibition’s role in maintaining artistic credibility within the Indian art scene.

Land isn’t just dirt and borders; it’s woven into who we are-our heritage, our communities, and our very sense of belonging. Curator Ina Puri explains that land, historically held collectively with systems of reciprocity, has transformed into an asset driven by ownership and speculation with colonization, industrialization, and capitalist expansion.

This shift, Puri notes, mirrors a broader global trend. “In step with this trend in history is the resurgence of divisive forces across the world today,including in South Asia,” she said. “nationalist and majoritarian politics have amplified religious, ethnic and caste identities, and digital media and populist rhetoric have further polarised communities, eroding trust and solidarity.”

So,how do artists respond to this fractured landscape? Puri suggests a focus on individual experiences and personal stories,highlighting the asymmetry of power and belonging. She intentionally broadened the scope beyond simply “the landscape of memory,” incorporating contemporary artists documenting their present lives and viewpoints.

What is the central theme of the ‘Zameen’ exhibition? The exhibition explores the multifaceted relationship between land, identity, and the socio-political forces shaping our world, examining how land is claimed, transformed, remembered, and contested.

Artist Debasish Mukherjee emphasized the exhibition’s importance as a testament to artistic continuity and relevance within the Indian art ecosystem. “It brings together artists whose practices engage critically and sensitively with the politics of land,” he stated. “The works reflect on land as a site of memory, conflict, belonging, labor, and personal history.”

Did you know? The concept of land as a shared resource with reciprocal systems predates modern notions of ownership, reflecting ancient communal practices.

Pro tip Consider how artists use their work to address power imbalances and explore individual experiences of belonging in relation to land.

reader question How might the exhibition’s focus on personal narratives challenge broader socio-political trends of polarization?

Puri succinctly captures the essence of “Zameen”: “‘Zameen’ is symbolic – conceptually everyone’s land/roots/belonging is different. When land today is the root cause of conflict a