The Creative Calendar for June
If you’re looking to escape the summer lull, the art world has plenty to offer this June. Across generations and geographies, artists are delving into urgent questions of climate, queerness, memory and myth through bold and immersive exhibitions. From intimate reflections to expansive visual narratives, here’s a curated round up of the shows you won’t want to miss.
Jhalak, Gallery Escape, New Delhi
Shahid Datawala’s photographs turn the everyday into the extraordinary. A self-taught photographer based in Mumbai, Datawala is known for his unique visual language—where stark contrasts, subtle light, and vacant spaces come together to create quiet, atmospheric scenes that feel both intimate and haunting. On view at Gallery Escape, New Delhi, till June 15.
Summer Art Show, Method Art Gallery, Delhi
Srishti Chatterjee of Baro Market and Sahil Arora of Method come together for the first time to present a collaborative exhibition featuring works by over 50 Indian artists, spanning styles from folk to contemporary. United by a shared vision to break barriers and make art more accessible, the curators adopt a storytelling approach to highlight the richness and diversity of Indian artistic expression. The exhibition is on view from May 24 to June 22, 2025.
Aksharscape, Bikaner House, Delhi
Aksharscape by Nikheel is a conceptual landscape anchored in the Devanagari script, where letters transcend language to become a medium of introspection and expression. Through evocative, abstract compositions, Nikheel navigates themes of divinity, mythology, spiritual prayer, and human emotion. His predominantly black-and-white works—created using ink, acrylic, watercolours, and unconventional tools like toothbrushes, bank cards, and coconut husk—transform calligraphy into a deeply textured and gestural art form, where script moves beyond aesthetics into a space of profound resonance. On view till June 1, 2025.
Dreamers, Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai
On view at Chemould Prescott Road, Mumbai, this collaborative body of work by artist Gurjeet Singh and a group of artisans—Godhi, Boogli, Gajanand, Pinki, Pushpa, Jahir, Nishrat, and Rais—celebrates the power of shared creativity. Every aspect of the collection, from design to colour palette, is the result of deep collaboration. Known for exploring themes of identity, queerness, and societal pressure, Gurjeet extends this inquiry into the lived realities of the artisans, shaped by patriarchy, tradition, and cultural nuance. On view till June 7, 2025.
Scape, Project 88, Mumbai
Scape, on view at Project 88, Mumbai, till June 21, brings together South Asian artists whose practices respond to the urgencies of our times—climate collapse, violence, and erasure—through expansive, rooted artistic expressions. The exhibition asks: How do we find just and joyful ways of existing amid madness and grief? It invites viewers to move beyond known vocabularies and ordered landscapes—into unruly forests, drowned worlds, spectral blooms, and protesting bodies. Drawing from the layered meanings of “scape”—landscape, escape, dreamscape, scapegoat—this show becomes a space of resistance, reverie, and radical care.
Shape of Silences, Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
On view at Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai, till June 1, Sanjay Das captures the quiet grandeur of Bengal’s terracotta temples—living archives of myth, history, and daily life. His photographs evoke the silence, emotion, and timeless spirit of these sacred spaces, offering a poetic glimpse into India’s enduring artistic legacy.
Featuring Image Courtesy: Project 88
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