079|STORIES in Ahmedabad presents Truth is Stranger Than Fiction, a solo exhibition by ceramic artist Khanjan Dalal, curated by independent art historian Lina Vincent. The show opens with a preview on September 6, 2026 and remains on view until September 26, 2026 at the gallery’s Bodakdev venue, before travelling to Latitude 28 in New Delhi in December 2026.
Exhibition at a glance
- Artist: Khanjan Dalal
- Curator: Lina Vincent
- Presented by: 079|STORIES, Ahmedabad
- Preview: September 6, 2026 | 11:00 am–7:00 pm
- On view: September 6–26, 2026
- Venue: 079|STORIES, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad
- Next venue: Latitude 28, New Delhi | December 2026
A decade of material, memory, and chance
The exhibition brings together works made between 2015 and 2026, offering a sustained look at Dalal’s evolving ceramic vocabulary. His practice oscillates between personal narration and near-abstraction, probing how meaning emerges through the interplay of form, surface, process, and the behaviour of clay itself.
In Dalal’s inquiry, fire becomes a central metaphor: the transformation of clay through firing stands in for time and space, creation and destruction, the tangible and the intangible.
Dalal’s signature method is organic wood-firing, a process in which he deliberately cedes control to natural elements. Fire, ash, atmosphere, and time act as collaborators, leaving unpredictable marks, textures, and distortions on the surfaces of his works. In this framework, process itself becomes a mode of storytelling. The works carry visible evidence of their passage through the kiln and the environment, embodying a practice where control and chance coexist: the artist sets the conditions, but material and elemental forces determine the final outcome.
About the artist
Khanjan Dalal is a ceramic artist whose practice is grounded in long-term research into material, process, language, and human experience. Across more than a decade, he has developed a distinctive visual vocabulary that moves between personal narration, abstraction, mark-making, and rigorous material investigation. His sustained engagement with organic wood-firing positions him within a contemporary discourse that treats unpredictability not as a flaw but as a generative force.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
