The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998, Barbican ★★★★★

The years between 1975 and 1988 marked a crucial period in the history of India. In 1975 the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a highly contentious State of Emergency, which significantly curtailed civil liberties. In 1998 India carried out its first nuclear tests.

The period was marked by social unrest, inter-communal violence, economic instability and rapid urbanisation; all this was documented by artists in works that bear witness to the re-evaluation of the ideals and day-to-day realities of the Indian state.

The Barbican exhibition draws its title, The Imaginary Institution of India, from an essay that discusses the process of establishing a modern democratic society post-colonialism. Its nearly 150 works range from vast canvases to smaller scale etchings, video, photography and large-scale installations. Among the former is M. F. Husain’s powerful representation of the brutal 1989 murder of the political activist, actor and playwright Safdar Hashmi.


The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998. M. F. Husain, Safdar Hashmi. Courtesy of Emami Group of Companies

Organised in chronological order the exhibition charts public protests, as well as individual expression and private moments. Some works come at politics sideways: Sheela Gowda, for example, chose to return to India’s cultural roots and work with cow dung, traditionally prepared by women to be used as, among other things, building materials. She created two large installations consisting of cow-dung patties each bearing an imprint of her hands, and a line of cow-dung bricks. She also experimented with a range of everyday materials, such as needle and thread, in works that she says possess ‘a very insidious sort of violence’.


The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998. Sjeela Gowda, Untitled 1997/2007 © Sheela Gowda, Courtesy Museum Gowda

By contrast, Arpita Singh’s large canvas My Mother is a head-on depiction of the communal violence which erupted in India in the 1990s. The artist’s mother stares out from the foreground, while behind her there's a maelstrom of fleeing people, overturned vehicles and dead bodies.

Opposite My Mother on the ground floor of the gallery stands Shamiana, a serene structure made up of six painted screens laid out geometrically to create an inner space surmounted by a painted canopy. In soft colours and diffuse lines, the artist Nilima Sheikh depicts journeys taken by women at various stages of their lives, including marriage and birth. An immensely appealing work, it draws you in and holds you there.

Women are widely represented in this exhibition and one of my favourite works was a collection of small sculptures through which Meera Mukherjee sought a modern-day artistic expression of Indian identity. Five delicate metal group compositions, beautifully detailed and imbued with movement depict scenes from village life: in one a group of artisans work in the shadow of an umbrella tree; another depicts a line of pilgrims.

The author of the awe-inspiring video triptych Remembering Toba Tek Singh, a response to the 1998 underground nuclear tests by India, soon followed by similar tests by Pakistan, is also a woman, Nalini Milani


The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998. Nalini Malani, Remembering Toba Tek Sikgh. Instalation View World Wide Video Festivcal, Amsterdam 1998 © Nalini Milani

The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1999 is the world’s first exhibition to explore a crucial period in the history of India through the artworks it gave rise to. Accompanied by a detailed guide booklet (you'll need it for context), it offers a fascinating snapshot of the period through works that seamless blend socio-politics and aesthetic ideals.

The Imaginary Institution of India: Art 1975-1998 is on at the Barbican Gallery 5 Oct 2024 to 5 January 2025. Full details and tickets here