Mumbai will host Tom Vattakuzhy’s first exhibition in the city, Where Words End, at the Institute of Contemporary Indian Art (ICIA) from May 3 to 17, 2026. The exhibition brings together a focused body of works that the artist calls “Story Paintings.” These paintings move beyond the function of illustration and instead explore what cannot be expressed through language.
Tom Vattakuzhy’s practice emerges from his early career as an illustrator for Malayalam periodicals, where images once followed the rhythm and clarity of text, but his current works deliberately resist that structure and seek to extend meaning beyond narrative boundaries. The exhibition is built on the idea that painting begins where language reaches its limit. His figures often appear suspended in ambiguous spaces. They reflect people from the margins of social and political discourse.
According to the artist, his works draw from memories of ordinary and vulnerable lives shaped by tension and contradiction, often existing between truth and fiction, propriety and impropriety, and the real and the surreal. The paintings emphasize stillness and emotional residue rather than action. Time in these works appears to slow down and accumulate.
Siddharth Sivakumar, Director of Curation and Artist Relations at ICIA, noted that the exhibition focuses on the threshold where language fails and visual expression takes over, positioning painting as a medium that carries what words cannot resolve. The exhibition also reflects Tom Vattakuzhy’s continued engagement with themes of memory, migration, and absence.
Tom Vattakuzhy’s Artistic practice
Born in 1967, Vattakuzhy trained at Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, and MS University of Baroda. He has received several awards, including the AIFACS Award and the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi Award. His recent exhibitions include Song of the Dusk in New York and Shadows of Absence in Kolkata and Delhi. His works were also featured in the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025–26.
ICIA, founded in 2007, continues to support contemporary Indian artists through exhibitions and international collaborations. The gallery is located in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai. The exhibition will be open daily from 11 am to 7 pm.
Image Credit: Tom Vattakuzhy & ICIA
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
