Indian Art May Be Poised for a Global Breakthrough

After a strong 2024, with major works, discoveries and acquisitions on the international stage, the future looks bright for Indian art

- Anindo Sen

Early last year, Delhi-based Rohini Devasher became the first Indian to be recognised by Deutsche Bank as their ‘Artist of the Year’. This led to her first major monographic exhibition, Borrowed Light, which opened in Berlin at the Palais Populaire in September and will be on display till early March. The first institutional solo exhibition in Europe for the artist took her engagement with the cosmos, and our relationship with it, even further.

In another significant achievement, the seventh edition of the Jameel Prize for contemporary art and design went to Bengali artist Ohida Khandakar for her film and installation Dream Your Museum (2023). The work is currently being exhibited at the Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum, London till mid-March.

Year on year, artists from the subcontinent have been recognised by international art foundations and museums for their unique practices. 2024 saw this being taken a notch further, especially for women artists at different stages of their careers, who won laurels for the nuanced perspective and approach that they brought to their work.

Mumbai-based Prajakta Potnis, known for her interdisciplinary practice—spanning photography, painting, sculpture and installation—themed around transgression of boundaries and the passage of time, became the second recipient of the Loewe Foundation/Studio Voltaire Award in July.