Shipra Bhattacharya will present In Bloom: A Journey through the Five Decades of Shipra Bhattacharya, a solo exhibition opening at CCA, Bikaner House in New Delhi on November 15, 2025. The show, curated by Jonaki Bhattacharya, will run through November 23, with viewing hours from 11 am to 7 pm daily.
The exhibition marks Bhattacharya’s return to Delhi after a ten-year absence and surveys five decades of her figurative practice. The Kolkata-based artist, who has been exhibiting since 1981, is known for her depictions of women in domestic and urban settings, often featuring her recurring motif of solitary female figures on terraces.
Among the works on display are several large-scale canvases from recent years. Floating (2023) juxtaposes botanical imagery with skeletal forms around a central figure. He (2021) depicts a male form inscribed with miniature scenes positioned between urban and coastal landscapes. People (2023) presents densely figured compositions, while Desire (2022) explores themes of longing through symbolic imagery.
Artwork Featured: Desire | Shipra Bhattacharya
The exhibition also includes earlier works such as She (2002), Desire (1998), and Kolkata (2016), alongside pieces addressing social and political themes. Taposhi responds to the Singur land acquisition controversy, while War (2014) and Stop War (2014) engage with conflict through abstract visual language. Gaj Yatra (2018) depicts elephant processions as a symbol of collective experience.
Bhattacharya’s practice extends to sculpture, represented in the exhibition by Floating (2021–22), a fiberglass work that translates her painterly approach into three dimensions.
A graduate of Calcutta University with a B.Sc., Bhattacharya later trained at the Government College of Art and Craft and the College of Visual Arts in Kolkata. She has held numerous solo exhibitions in India at venues including Gallery Sumukha in Bangalore, India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, and Gallery Sanskriti and Birla Academy of Art & Culture in Kolkata. Internationally, her work has been shown in the United States, Germany, and Dubai.
The exhibition is free and open to the public at CCA, Bikaner House, Pandara Road, New Delhi.
Cover Image: People | Shipra Bhattacharya
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
