Dear All,

The Department of Visual Arts is delighted to invite you to the second talk in the Visual Arts Colloquium Series, Monsoon 2026.

Title of the Talk: Being as One: Living as Making, Making as Living

Speaker: Manisha Parekh

Date & Time: Friday, 18th September, 2026, 1:30 PM – 3 PM 

Venue: Visual Arts Studio (near sports block)z

Abstract: 

Choosing a material is a journey I only understand once I'm in the thick of it. Each material carries its own character, its own quiet resistance, and it's only through spending real time with it that it begins to reveal itself. Once the work starts, I've come to recognize a kind of give and take — a point where I stop simply acting on the material and start listening to it. It begins to guide me, to show me how it wants to be used, and I've learned to let that happen rather than resist it. I don't look for resolution too soon. I let the process stay open, unfinished, still becoming. Over the years, I've moved between painting, collage, drawing, and sculpture without feeling the need to stay within any one of them — and it's in that movement, that exploration, that the geometric and the organic seem to find each other.

Speaker Bio:

Manisha Parekh is one of the few artists in India today who continues to explore an exclusively abstract visual language. Her distinct aesthetic subtly echoes the geometric draftsmanship of Nasreen Mohamedi, her teacher at Baroda, while also carrying traces of  V. S. Gaitonde's ethereal abstraction and the gestural energy of Jeram Patel's ink drawings.
Her practice, often a celebration of the art and craft traditions of her native land, moves fluidly between painting, collage, drawing and sculptural installation, weaving together the geometric and the organic. Material is Parekh's metaphor.
She has exhibited internationally in Lahore (Pakistan), Singapore, the USA, London and Amsterdam, among other locations. Her shows in India include Chromatic Flight at Nature Morte, New Delhi (2023), and A River Inside at Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai (2020).
Parekh completed her BA and MA in Painting from M.S. University, Baroda (1988 and 1990), and a further degree at the Royal College of Art, London (1993). She lives and works in New Delhi.

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We look forward to having you with us for the talk. 

warm regards,

Visual Arts Department