The Ishara Art Foundation is hosting Lines of Flight, the first solo exhibition in West Asia by acclaimed Indian artist Shilpa Gupta. Occupying four gallery spaces, the show spans about 20 years of Gupta’s practice, displaying diverse artworks, from drawings to site-specific interventions, that delve into themes of mobility, control, and resilience. Curated by Sabih Ahmed (Director of the Ishara Art Foundation), the exhibition will be open to the public until 31 May 2025.
Gupta’s practice, which includes sculpture, found objects, text, video, sound, light, and performance, challenges perceptions of identity and examines how state and societal forces govern and orchestrate individual and collective experiences. Her work often interrogates the constructs of borders, physical and conceptual, and the systems that enforce them. By focusing on moments of unrest and resistance, Gupta offers one to reflect on the poetics of defiance and the possibilities of transcending imposed boundaries.
Central to her practice is the motif of the line. Whether delineating national borders, tracing genealogies through surnames, or establishing zones of exclusion, lines function as tools of modern power and governance. Gupta examines and destabilises these lines, exposing their fragility through the everyday frictions between the individual, the community, and the state.
Among the notable art pieces presented in the Lines of Flight exhibition is Listening Air, an immersive sound installation comprising suspended microphones. They recite protest poetry from various cultural contexts, including verses by Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa. On view is also StillTheyKnowNotWhatIDream, a kinetic installation that features traditional flap-boards that relay fragmented words in poetic dialogue, challenging conventional modes of communication.
Visitors can look at Untitled (Smoke Series), 12 digital prints that depict clouds of smoke in interior settings, evoking themes of threat and the blurring of boundaries between insider and outsider. Exhibited is also A0 – A5, a series of thread and pencil artworks on handwoven cloth from Phulia, an Indo-Bangladesh border town. Inscribed with ratios comparing the length of lines on the cloth with the length of the fenced border, these works highlight the abstraction of state borders.
About the artist
Shilpa Gupta (b. 1976, Mumbai, India) is a contemporary artist residing in Mumbai, whose work is recognised for its critical engagement with issues of identity, surveillance, and freedom of expression. She obtained a BFA in Sculpture from the Sir J. J. School of Fine Arts (Mumbai) in 1997.
Gupta has displayed her art pieces in numerous exhibitions, including Shilpa Gupta: Today Will End (solo) (Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp, Belgium, 2021); Possibilities for a Non-alienated Life, Kochi Muziris Biennale (India, 2018); the 56th Venice Biennale (Italy, 2015); Paris, Mumbai, New Delhi (Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 2011); Century City: Art and Culture in the Modern Metropolis (Tate Modern, London, UK, 2001), and many more.
Gupta’s accolades include the Possehl Prize for International Art (2025), YFLO Titan Young Women Achievers Awards 2012-2013 (New Delhi, India), and the Bienal Award at the Bienal De Cuenca (Ecuador, 2011), among others. Her artworks are in esteemed public collections such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA), Mori Museum (Japan), Bristol Art Museum (UK), and M+ Museum (Hong Kong), to name a few.
To get more information about Lines of Flight, please go to the official web page of the exhibition.
You might also be interested in reading our article about other must-see exhibitions on view in May.
