Gallerie Nvya, New Delhi, presents ऊंबरा: at an ancestral threshold, a solo exhibition by emerging artist Rohit Suresh Varekar, on view from 11 July to 31 August 2026. Rooted in the fragile ecological and architectural landscapes of the Konkan region, the exhibition is a material meditation on memory, loss, and continuity in the face of environmental and social upheaval.
Triggered by the devastating floods that swept through the Konkan in 2021, Varekar’s practice engages directly with the remnants of collapsed mud homes. Salvaged doors, beams, and pillars, which were once integral to domestic life have been reassembled into sculptural installations that interrogate what architecture retains after human presence disappears. These fragments, marked by time and erosion, are active carriers of lived histories.
The immersive installation of double-panel doors inscribed with ecological warnings inspired by environmentalist Madhav Gadgil will be on display. Here, the threshold—ऊंबरा—becomes both literal and conceptual: a site of entry and exit, of rupture and continuity. Varekar repositions it as a space of suspension, where past and present coexist uneasily amid accelerating climate precarity and migration.
Rejecting nostalgia, the artist approaches vernacular architecture as an archaeological surface. Through wax-infused drawings, deliberate carvings, and unpolished interventions, he allows images of domestic objects, regional flora, and sedimented landscapes to emerge organically from the grain of reclaimed wood. These works hover between sculpture and ruin, resisting completion and instead embracing fragmentation as a mode of remembering.
Varekar’s practice is deeply embedded in his lived environment. Born in 1999 in Sawantwadi and raised in the village of Otawane in Sindhudurg district, his work reflects an intimate engagement with the Konkan’s monsoon ecology, oral traditions, and rapidly transforming rural landscapes. A graduate of Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, and Sir J.J. School of Art, he has quickly gained recognition through fellowships and awards including the Takshila Fine Arts Fellowship (2026) and the Hyundai Art Grant (2025).
With ऊंबरा, Gallerie Nvya continues its commitment to foregrounding emerging practices that bridge material experimentation with critical discourse.
Exhibition Details
Dates: 11 July – 31 August 2026
Venue: Gallerie Nvya, Square One Mall, Saket District Centre, New Delhi
Timings: 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM
Cover Image: Where losses find doors II
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