Art Alive Gallery is delighted to present Somewhere I have never travelled, the first solo show of works by Radhika Surana. The exhibition borrows its title from E.E. Cummings’ evocative poem, somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond. Radhika’s practice, like the poem, meditates on the complexity of human connection, using natural symbols to evoke the emotional dynamics at play. Instinctive and meditative, her needle travels to unexpected places, tracing the quiet labour involved in sustaining relationships.
Somewhere I Have Never Travelled offers a quiet yet profound exploration of human connection and emotional landscapes through Surana’s instinctive embroidery practice. Her use of indigo vat dyeing connects deeply with India’s textile heritage, while delicate stitches, knots, slashes, and scorches come together as meditative gestures reflecting intimacy, growth, rupture, and repair.
Indigo vat dyeing is essential to Radhika’s artistic practice, connecting deeply with India’s heritage. The history of indigo, the coveted blue dye, goes back to the Indus valley civilization. Exploring the indigenous roots of the colour, often known as ‘blue gold’, she taps into a powerful cultural lineage invoking feelings of intrigue and wonder. For the artist, indigo carries a legacy and character of its own, rooted in spirituality and in need of constant nurture. She uses it to bridge the past and present, weaving heritage into every thread of her art.
Exhibition Details:
Title: Somewhere I Have Never Travelled
Venue: Art Alive Gallery, New Delhi
Preview: Friday, 25th July, 2025
On View: Until 20th August, 2025
Timings: Monday to Saturday, 11 AM – 7 PM
Radhika Surana is a Visual Artist who graduated in fine arts from Rajasthan University. She pursued courses at Canadore College, Ontario, and worked as an apprentice with the Canadian artist Charlie Rapsky. With each stitch, she weaves conversations onto fabric, mirroring the complexities of human relationships. Through scars and burns, or by layering fabrics and other mediums to signify repair, She creates visual narratives that resonate deeply. Her meditative approach to embroidery draws parallels between the meandering thread and the ebb and flow of connections in our lives.
Radhika Surana has worked across different media – acrylic, charcoal, oil pastels, ink, and transparent watercolor. Her early works, often inspired by nature, interpreted movement and rhythm through the lens of Hindustani classical music as she has also been a practicing vocalist. In the last five years, she has turned to textiles, dyeing her own fabrics with natural indigo. This shift has deepened her engagement with the metaphorical language of thread – long used to symbolize relationships through knots, entanglements, frays, and weaves. She lives and works in Gurugram.
Founded in 2001, Art Alive Gallery is a contemporary art gallery based in New Delhi. The gallery has been committed to creating a culture of engagement between art connoisseurs, art enthusiasts and artists. It represents well known contemporary artists from all over India and has organised shows of Indian art in London, Chicago, Palo Alto, Seoul, Dubai, Sydney, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
Pari tiwari is a third year english literature student at Delhi University. She is interested in art, Feminism, politics of representation, literature, philosophy, film, and photography.
