Exhibitions

Bhuri Bai — My Life as an Artist

Produced by MAP and Presented by MAP Academy, Bhuri Bai — My Life as an Artist opens at TRI Art & Culture, Kolkata on May 4, 2024. Combining research with Bhuri Bai’s own words and paintings, this exhibition charts her extraordinary journey; from growing up in an Adivasi community, finding her way to the city and working as a daily wage labourer, to becoming a globally recognised artist.

Bhuri Bai is a Bhopal-based artist and Padma Shri recipient grew up in Pithol, a remote village at the border of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The first woman from her community (the Bhils) to paint on paper and canvas, her paintings are characterised by a lively visual vocabulary. Driven by an autobiographical and archival impulse, she draws from her encounters with flora and fauna in the forests surrounding her village and her later experiences and travels as a contemporary artist.

This exhibition is based on a research and online exhibition project by Mustafa Khanbhai, Nathaniel Gaskell and Shrey Maurya from the MAP Academy, in dialogue with the artist. The MAP Academy is a free, online educational resource that encourages new ways of engaging with the histories of South Asian art by strengthening public access to knowledge. It comprises online courses, an encyclopedia of art, and timelines of art history.

The exhibition is accompanied by an essay titled Understanding Adivasi Artists in the Contemporary Context, by Mustafa Khanbhai examining these subjects.

This exhibition will be on display at This exhibition will be on display at TRI Art & Culture, Kolkata from May 5, 2024 – July 21, 2024.

TRI Art & Culture is a multidisciplinary art and culture centre which reimagines encounters with the visual, performing, musical, craft, and culinary arts alongside research and social practices.

Through rotating exhibitions and a robust calendar of cultural programs, TRI invites visitors to explore, tri and discover art and culture.

TRI Art & Culture is located at 53/2/2 Hazra Road, Ballygunge, Kolkata 700019