London Exhibition to showcase emerging South Asian Artists

A major exhibition featuring works by 26 emerging and established South Asian artists will open on April 11, 2025, at SOAS Gallery in London.

(Un)Layering the Future Past of South Asia: Young Artists’ Voices offers a platform for artists from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan.

Many are exhibiting in London for the first time.

The exhibition explores themes of ecological fragility, gender justice, displacement, and political unrest through painting, sculpture, textiles, photography, video, and installation.

This is the first London exhibition supported by The Ravi Jain Memorial Foundation, which promotes emerging art and nurtures young talent in India. It was established by Dhoomimal Gallery, India.

Curators Salima Hashmi and Manmeet K Walia have spent three years travelling across South Asia, connecting with artists whose work reflects shared histories and resilience.

Salima said: “As a curator and an art practitioner from South Asia, I find it essential to explore how the past continues to shape contemporary art practices.

“The art emerging from the region is diverse in its sensibilities—thoughtful yet deeply engaged, critically examining collective memory across cultures.”

Manmeet added: “This exhibition has been a journey of collaborations, connections, and discovery.

“Over the past three years, we’ve travelled across South Asia, meeting artists, listening to their stories, and tracing the threads that tie their work to a shared history and interconnected sensibility in contemporary art.”

The exhibition includes newly commissioned pieces and London debuts.

Afghan artist Kubra Khademi, forced to flee her country after her 2015 performance Armor, presents a series of gouaches depicting Afghanistan’s resources.

Fellow Afghan artist Hadi Rahnaward’s Fragile Balance (2023), made with matchsticks, addresses the country’s history of violence.

Bangladeshi artist Ashfika Rahman, winner of the Future Generation Art Prize 2024, showcases Redeem (2021–22), a collaborative project with the indigenous Orao community.

Ayesha Sultana presents a new series of glass sculptures linking folk tales to contemporary struggles.

From India, Kashmiri artist Moonis Ahmad’s Echographies of the Invisible (2023) takes viewers on a surreal journey through space and time.

New Delhi-based Aban Raza exhibits oil paintings on themes of protest and oppression.

Varunika Saraf presents The Longest Revolution II (2024), an embroidery piece depicting women as unified figures resisting state repression.

Nepali artist Amrit Karki exhibits Whisper (2021), a sound installation featuring whispered words in 50 languages.

Pakistani artist Aisha Abid Hussain’s Lived Realities (2023) overlays archival marriage contracts with intricate miniature paintings and coded marks.

Sri Lankan artist Hema Shiron presents My Family Is Not In The List (2024), an embroidered work tracing local histories of colonisation and civil war.

The exhibition also features Hum bhi dekhein ge (2024–25), a collaboration between Indian artist Purvai Rai and Pakistani designer Maheen Kazim.

The project revisits the Partition through the loss of khes textiles, working with local communities to explore collective memory.

Uday Jain, Director of Dhoomimal Gallery and Trustee of the Ravi Jain Memorial Foundation, said:”It is fascinating to see how young artists across South Asia are grappling with similar issues of politics, collective memory, history, and identity.

“Many of these artists, born in one region but practising globally, explore this complexity in their artistic journeys.”