OLD STROKES, NEW DELHI

Dhoomimal Gallery's ongoing exhibition, Joining the Dots, is a tribute to the enduring charm of Delhi's cultural heart Connaught Place

- Arshia

When India's oldest contemporary art gallery, Dhoomimal, located in the heart of Delhi, decides to pay homage to the illustrious history of the neighbourhood it belongs to-Connaught Place-it would be remiss not to revisit its own history at the same time. Established in 1936, the gallery's 88-year-long legacy is intrinsically woven into the fabric of one of Delhi's primary and oldest commercial hubs, for which art historian and curator Annapurna Garimella has a deep, abiding love she crystallised into the ongoing exhibition Joining the Dots: The Past Has a Home in the Future through her Bengaluru-based research and design organisation, Jackfruit.

On display till December 7, the exhibition chronicles the history of Connaught Place as a crucible for cultural and political exchanges documented and romanticised in various art forms over the decades. "Don't you absolutely love Connaught Place?" asks Garimella, who calls this show her love letter to Delhi, which she finds herself returning to again and again.