DUBAI
Indian creatives captivated viewers at Art Dubai 2025, the Middle East and North African (MENA) region’s foremost art fair that ran from April 18 to 20, representing over 400 artists from 65 countries.
Blue-chip Indian galleries showcased works of around 30 artists at the fair’s contemporary, modern and Bawwaba (gateway in Arabic) sections. From marquee names like M.F. Husain to influential millennial voices, the works transcended generations and genres, reinforcing India’s position as both a cultural powerhouse and a rising star on the global art firmament.
However, it was the women artists who shone brightest with their strongest showing yet since the fair’s launch in 2007. Artists like Dhara Mehrotra, Sheetal Gattani, Anindita Bhattacharya, Shruti Mahajan, Pallavi Paul, Sudipta Das, Gopa Trivedi, Ketaki Sarpotdar, Purvai Rai and Bhasha Chakrabarti spotlighted themes as diverse as climate change, identity politics, migration and empowerment.
Mumbai-based gallery Chemould Prescott Road brought works of four boundary-pushing women artists―Archana Hande, Dana Awartani, Lavanya Mani and Mithu Sen―all of whom are reimagining histories, geographies and societal constructs using social satire and sharp political undertones in their works. Sen, known for her conceptual and interactive formats, explored societal hierarchies and identities in her work ‘Pray-Prey (to kneel in hope, or be confined)’.
Captivating canvasses
Shrine Empire, New Delhi, presented Divya Singh, a multimedia artist whose practice draws from a groundswell of painting techniques, photography, writing, cinema and art books, and a lyrical engagement with themes of memory, time and mortality.
Artist Puja Mondal exhibited a work from her ‘Riyaaz’ series. A watercolour on Nepali paper mounted on ply-board, it drew inspiration from miniature paintings featuring recurring motifs such as a bird escaping a cage, a woman reading and another stitching swords beneath a canopy of trees.
“The elements I have used are quiet symbols of hope, and speak to the inner strength of women. It denotes we are capable of crafting our own weapons; we do not need saviours,” explained Mondal.
Going global
Gallerists at the fair highlighted that Indian art has been gaining stronger recognition on the international stage over the past decade. “Several elements have contributed to this: the growing visibility of Indian galleries and artists at major international fairs and biennales; the efforts of institutions that are actively promoting Indian modern and contemporary art; and a deepening interest among global collectors and museums in South Asian narratives,” elaborated Mamta Singhania, founder-director of Noida-based Anant Art gallery that brought Mondal’s works to the fair.
The gallerist added that a new generation of Indian artists is engaging with globally relevant issues while remaining grounded in their cultural specificities. “While there is still ground to cover, the direction is encouraging, and long overdue,” said Singhania.
According to Renu Modi, founder-director, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, Art Dubai 2025 reaffirms what the art world has long known―India is not just participating in the global conversation; it is shaping it.
Women artists’ brush with greatness
Modi added that the record-breaking prices women artists like Arpita Singh, Anjolie Ela Menon, Bharti Kher and Amrita Sher-Gil command in global auctions have shattered the proverbial glass ceiling and gender bias that earlier allowed only male artists to shine. “A new era is dawning, and Indian women artists are at the forefront of this churn,” said Modi.
One of the works that Modi brought to the fair was of Purvai Rai’s ‘Saplings Series’―a resin artwork that highlighted the agrarian nature of the Indian cultural and economic landscape, drawing on the history of farming and farmlands. Rai said she enjoyed working with materials, especially textiles as well as jute and moli threads tied on shrines. “Paper also plays a vital role in building my material history,” she said. “My two resin works at the fair are layered in practices. First, I embroidered on organza fabric and then layered it with resin. All kinds of beads are again planted with resin. Finally, I used acrylic to draw the figures we see.”
Anindita Bhattacharya presented an evocative work at this year’s fair, a haunting reflection on water as a vessel of memory, collective consciousness, transformation and survival. Referencing the Anthropocene, the piece spotlighted ramifications of an environmental collapse. The work reads like a visual lament for what’s been lost, what still remains and the unresolved stories that continue to flow beneath the surface, informed a spokesperson of Threshold Gallery, New Delhi, who represented the artist.
Amrita Jhaveri of Jhaveri Contemporary, Mumbai, is not surprised that this year marks the strongest showing of Indian women artists at Art Dubai. “It is time we looked at under-represented voices in the art world, be it the dalits, senior artists or women. It is their moment to shine,” she said. Jhaveri’s displays explored pivotal moments in human relationship with the ocean, with seven artists across generations and from different countries showing their works for the first time.
Immersive experiences
Alongside the main fair, artist Shilpa Gupta presented ‘Still They Know Not What I Dream’ at The Yard, Alserkal Avenue. The light installation invited reflection on media, surveillance and self-agency, using disorienting text and poetic minimalism to challenge perceptions of freedom and control.
The fair offered not just immersive art but also opportunities for meaningful conversation. A vibrant programme of daily talks, workshops and panels, focusing on the regional and international art market, saw rich participation from Indian creatives. Leading figures from across the art world were also spotted at Art Dubai, including London-based Indian industrialist L.N. Mittal’s wife Usha Mittal, Delhi-based entrepreneur Shalini Passi, Arab royalty and Dubai socialites.
Women gallerists reported good business, too. In the Bawwaba section, Blueprint12 (New Delhi) almost sold out their stand by Bengaluru-based artist Kaimurai. Priyanka Raja, founder of Experimenter, Kolkata, said it was the best opening day in Art Dubai’s almost two-decade history, with the gallery selling over 80 per cent of its presentation in the first hours to institutions and private collections in the US and Europe, including many new collectors.
Lal is a New Delhi-based journalist and editor.
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