Located in the Isolotto warehouse in the Arsenale, the pavilion opened to the public on May 9 and was inaugurated on May 6 by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in the presence of Culture Secretary Vivek Aggarwal and India’s Ambassador to Italy Vani Rao. The pavilion has been presented through a collaboration between the Union Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre and Serendipity Arts.
India’s participation marks a significant return to the Venice Biennale, the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibition, first held in Venice in 1895. India was last officially invited in 2011.
Curated by Amin Jaffer, the pavilion is titled “Geographies of Distance: Remembering Home” and features works by Alwar Balasubramaniam, Ranjani Shettar, Sumakshi Singh, Skarma Sonam Tashi and Asim Waqif. The inclusion of five artists is unusual for a national pavilion, which typically showcases one or two participants. Representing different regions of India, each artist has created large-scale installations using diverse materials rooted in local craftsmanship and lived experience.
The pavilion is aligned with the overarching curatorial framework of the Biennale, “In Minor Keys,” conceived by curator Koyo Kouoh, who passed away in May last year. In her curatorial note, released two weeks after her death, Kouoh described the exhibition as one that listens to the enduring signals of the earth and life, positioning artists as interpreters of social and psychological realities and as catalysts for new possibilities.
Jaffer said the concept emerged from his longstanding interest in domesticity, identity and the meaning of home. Born into an Indian family that lived abroad for generations, he said he has always maintained a strong sense of Indian identity. Reflecting on India’s rapid urban transformation, demographic growth and technological expansion, he was drawn to the nostalgia associated with homes and neighbourhoods that have been irrevocably altered by redevelopment.
Vivek Aggarwal said the selection process was guided by two principal criteria: balancing established and emerging artists and representing the diversity of India through a wide range of materials and traditional practices. He noted that Skarma Sonam Tashi, though relatively unknown, has the potential to emerge as a major artistic voice in the future.
Among the pavilion’s most emotionally charged works is Sumakshi Singh’s life-sized embroidered reconstruction of her grandparents’ home at 33 Link Road in New Delhi. The house became her family’s residence after her grandparents arrived in India as refugees following Partition. Built between 1950 and 1952, it remained the family’s anchor for 74 years before being demolished two years ago.
The residence was central to Singh’s childhood and family history. It was where her mother was born, where her grandfather died and where generations of weddings, celebrations and family gatherings took place. Before its demolition, Singh meticulously documented every crack in the walls, fragments of brick, peeling paint and architectural hardware.
Working with four embroiderers, she transformed these details into suspended embroidered panels mounted on thin steel frames measured to within a quarter of a millimetre. Created on soluble fabric, the installation invites visitors to walk through the ghostly fragments of a home that can no longer be inhabited.
Singh described the work as an attempt to capture a place that survives only in memory. She said it reflects a universal human longing to belong to a place that may no longer exist. Jaffer said the work resonated deeply with him, describing it as contemporary, emotionally powerful and firmly rooted in India’s textile heritage.
In “Echoes of Home,” Skarma Sonam Tashi turns to the landscape and architecture of his native village of Sapi in Kargil. Sent to Leh for schooling at the age of five, he later pursued a Master of Fine Arts in Santiniketan and subsequently moved to Delhi. His increasing distance from home became the foundation of his artistic practice.
The installation measures four feet in length and 16 feet in width and comprises 80 individual components assembled into a detailed representation of traditional Ladakhi homes complete with roofs and windows. Using papier-mâché made from recycled school textbooks, along with clay and cardboard, Tashi recreates the textures and colours of the region.
He said the education system often pushes young people further away from their roots, a reality that informed his interpretation of the curatorial theme. Jaffer noted that the work raises awareness about the gradual replacement of Ladakh’s traditional domestic architecture by modern construction methods.
Ranjani Shettar’s “Under the Same Sky” introduces a suspended sculptural garden inspired by flowers and organic growth. Handcrafted using woven cotton fabric and lacquer stretched over steel frames, the installation appears to float effortlessly in space, creating a delicate and immersive environment.
Shettar said her father, an engineer, profoundly influenced her understanding of structure and balance. His observations about the centre of gravity encouraged her to perfect the engineering behind her increasingly precarious forms, eventually leading her to suspend sculptures rather than anchor them to pedestals.
The work consists of 74 individual parts that form 52 independent suspended elements. Rising from two feet above the ground to nearly 20 feet in height and extending 27 feet in width, the installation invites viewers to move around and through it. Shettar said she wants people to experience the sculpture from all directions, without any fixed front or back. Jaffer said the work underscores the role of nature in shaping the emotional memory of home.
Alwar Balasubramaniam’s “Not Just for Us” offers a profound meditation on humanity’s relationship with the natural world. Created at his studio near the Papanasam forest in Tamil Nadu, the 10-foot by 18-foot installation is composed of dried earth, clay and resin.
Originally conceived as a continuation of his 2022 work “Drift,” which examined patterns left by evaporating water, the piece evolved unexpectedly during a 75-day drying process. Earthworms appeared, plants began to sprout and attracted chickens, peacocks, a snake and monkeys. Even the artist’s one-year-old child accidentally walked across the surface, leaving footprints.
Although initially concerned that these intrusions had disrupted his design, Balasubramaniam came to view them as essential to the work. He said the experience challenged the human tendency to see nature solely through a human-centred perspective. Jaffer described the piece as a powerful evocation of the soil beneath our feet, complementing Singh’s meditation on the home itself.
Asim Waqif’s “Chaal” provides the pavilion with its most dramatic architectural intervention. A trained architect from the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, Waqif left professional architecture to work in filmmaking before establishing himself as a multidisciplinary artist. The installation was previously exhibited at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai in 2024.
Constructed specifically for the Venice site, the work was realised by a team of eight artisans from West Bengal, along with an architect from Manipur and a civil engineer experienced in bamboo construction. Using bamboo, reed and screwpine weaving, the installation transforms a scaffold-like structure into a vast and immersive environment.
Waqif said he intentionally delegates creative responsibility to collaborators and later edits the results rigorously. This decentralised method has become a defining feature of his practice. Although he has worked with bamboo since his student years because of its affordability and versatility, his artistic journey has also included timber, scrap metal and even the creation of a Durga idol for a community celebration in Kolkata in 2019.
Jaffer said Waqif’s bamboo structure evokes the scaffolding that dominates Indian cities and serves as a compelling symbol of renewal and change.
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