14-05-2025
‘To Make a Home with You': A group show that makes space for queer solidarity
A group exhibition at Art and Charlie, a contemporary space in Bandra, Mumbai, comes just ahead of Pride Month in June. Titled To Make a Home with You, the show curated by Mihir Thakkar brings together five young artists—Aksh Diwan Garg, Deepak Dhiman, Lakshya Bhargava, Namrata Arjun and Zoya Lobo—from diverse backgrounds. The curator and artists identify as queer and their visual reflections in the show stem from deeply personal and lived experiences.
Thakkar, who is making his curatorial debut with the show, would like to break this notion that queerness sits outside of mainstream society. 'I want to push back against attempts at 'othering' queer people as a subculture," he adds. 'Queers are not different from heteronormative people in seeking a support system in friendships, which offer them a safe space and a sense of belonging. And this is an aspect that the show focuses on."
There are some interesting interpretations and renditions in the show. For instance, Namrata Arjun's Arrival (after Masaccio) (2025) critically examines the early Renaissance artist's work The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden. In Masaccio's fresco, which can be viewed in the church of Santa Maria Del Carmine in Florence, Adam covers his face and Eve her breasts in shame as an angel with a sword drives them out of heaven. In contrast, Arjun's version represents the two naked figures as non-binary and liberated. 'I have attempted to erase the gender markers of the Biblical story by doing a queer retelling of it." she shares.
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The arms are the most direct expression of this radical subversion—instead of being self-censoring, Adam's arms reach out to Eve as an invocation of mutual trust and solidarity. It is an assertion for acceptance and a refusal to be shamed.
23-year-old Garg recently completed a residency at Space Studio Baroda, which is an independent not-for-profit organisation dedicated to supporting artists and developing creative practices. His practice is rooted in figuration and is often autobiographical. Through his playfully titled paintings, Garg explores ideas of belonging through intimate yet public social settings like restaurants which create spaces for togetherness for him. The compositions, rendered in warm palettes, are framed cinematically to cue emotional drama but in a subtle and playful way. One of the works, Mosquito Bite (2025), is inspired by an actual experience that took place when he was out with his close friends. 'It's a humorous take on how we sometimes refer to love bites as mosquito bites when they are exposed but everyone understands what they actually are," reveals Garg.
The characters in his paintings are usually women. 'I often explore the sense of femininity within myself. Also, as someone who grew up surrounded by my mother and elder sisters, I have learned their values," he adds.
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Deepak Dhiman's paintings Outcome-ing and We Thrive Seeing You Live (2025) focus on the cathartic moments of compassion when he came out to his family. They underscore the importance of such vulnerable moments in queer journeys and the criticality of support from loved ones.
Meanwhile aspiring photojournalist Zoya Lobo's photographs reveal tender moments of kinship between friends in the transgender community. Her own life is quite inspiring—she begged on trains and brought a camera, ended up learning photography and is now finding recognition for her work as a media person. Her photographs create a sense of family within the community and reflect her efforts to fight for their rights.
In contrast, Lakshya Bhargava's works are marked by absence of people in domestic spaces. Rather, it is the objects that stand as personifications of intimate relationships in terms of the residual memory they hold through shared acts of care. The objects are often paired in his works, be it a couple of t-shirts in After Wash (2025) or a pair of spoons in Morning Bed (2025). 'I was also thinking about what happens to these spaces once we have gone our different ways. There's a sadness in imagining them unattended, and yet that impermanence feels very real," he says.
For Bhargava, who is currently pursuing a master's degree from the Slade School of Fine Arts in London, being away from home has also encouraged him to seek new forms of belonging. Sharing domestic chores with fellow students have made him feel at home and imprints of these have found their way into the works he has exhibited.
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There is also a concerted effort to activate the space for the exhibition. The restored Portuguese-style house, which now acts as the gallery space, will be hosting an evening of comedy by members of Queer Rated Comedy on 17 May and a day later, the KASHISH Pride Film Festival team will showcase a set of short films, followed by sessions with the cast and crew. In India, in the last one year, there have been a couple of notable shows drawing attention to queer journeys.
This show's impact lies in its building of empathy towards vulnerabilities and shared moments within the queer community. It is an element that would also appeal to the heteronormative audience at large.
'To Make a Home with You' can be viewed at Art and Charlie Gallery, Mumbai till 8 June.
Anindo Sen is an independent art and culture writer.
