Shreya Ajmani

Art Writer

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Malani “became a pioneering feminist artist at a time when there was no established vocabulary or framework for thinking specifically about the conditions of women—the missing agency, the marginalized voices, women reduced to mere footnotes in the larger narrative. The critics weren’t ready. The men weren’t ready. Yet here she was, painting abortion, painting prostitution, painting the realities that polite society preferred to ignore,” said curator Roobina Karode. 

Roobina Karode for Artsy's “10 South Asian Artists with Market Momentum”

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Furies Unbound: Nalini Malani’s “Of Woman Born” in Venice

Shadows swallow sight, but my ears find their way to a hall taken over by Nalini Malani. Her voice reverberates through the long, cavernous space of the ​Magazzini del Sale in Venice, at one point proclaiming vehemently, “The lust for power never dies.” The interior flashes with red and white light as semi-distorted, spectral figures continuously emerge and disappear, from close-ups of adult faces with wide eyes to scrawled silhouettes of children dancing, skipping, standing still, collapsing. Even as they flit from wall to wall, their presence is steadfast and hypnotic, accompanied by incisive quotes drawn from various literary sources, projected onto the chipped-brick surfaces: “Remember us—if at all—not as lost violent souls, but only as the hollow men”; “Hatred is a master of contrast / Above all it never tires”; “Who will ask the women?” Another quote, all in block letters, reads: “OUR POWER STRIPPED / CAST OFF.” 

Text by Shreya Ajmani for ArtAsiaPacific.

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This artist from Mumbai paints Bollywood’s most iconic characters back to life

Maithili Chaturvedi’s studio sits inside Wankhede Stadium. On match days, crowds stream through the complex for cricket games while, somewhere between and beyond the noise, the 23-year-old painter labours over her portraits from the golden era of Hindi cinema. “I walk around throngs of people, and no one knows I’m not going to watch the match,” she says. “I’m just going to paint.”​

Text by Shreya Ajmani for Vogue India.

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10 South Asian Artists with Market Momentum

South Asian art is at a global inflection point.

Record-breaking prices at auction, major institutional acquisitions, landmark retrospectives, and a collector base that is both more geographically dispersed and generationally diverse than at any prior moment—the breadth of this momentum is what distinguishes this current moment.

Text by Shreya Ajmani for Artsy.

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History & Now: Dr Amin Jaffer on the Pavilion of India at the 61st La Biennale di Venezia

Amin Jaffer’s relationship with art began at six years old, when he walked through the Louvre with a camera. He photographed the Raft of the Medusa, the Coronation of Napoleon, the Winged Victory, and the black basalt Egyptian sculptures, to which he returned more than once. Whatever it was that drew him to those particular works, it appears never to have loosened its hold. Born in Rwanda to an Indian business family, Jaffer spent a decade at the Victoria & Albert Museum and another as International Director of Asian Art at Christie’s, before becoming Director of the Al Thani Collection and overseeing the creation of its critically acclaimed museum at the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris in 2021. Now, as curator of the Pavilion of India at the 61st La Biennale di Venezia 2026, he arrives at the world’s foremost international exhibition with rare scholarly depth and a sensibility that preceded it all.

Interview with Dr Amin Jaffer in the April-May issue for Harper's Bazaar India.

Text by Shreya Ajmani

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Written Across the Sky: Hong Kong Art Week 2026

Artists illuminate histories, bodies, and knowledge systems that stretch from Victoria Harbour to Art Basel Hong Kong.

Text by Shreya Ajmani for the April-May issue of Harper's Bazaar India.

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5 Artists to Look Out For at the Thailand Biennale Phuket 2025

Blue coiffed hair, a ballgown, and cocktail gloves—Mademoiselle MIMOSA, the alter ego of Oat Montien, opened Thailand Biennale Phuket 2025 with an animated performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”. The theatrical vernissage set the tone for a biennale that oscillates between spectacle and historical reflection.

Text by Shreya Ajmani for Take on Art.

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Art in the Wild: Inside Thailand's Khao Yai Art Forest

“A figure emerges through the fog, still cloaked in the haziness of the atmosphere. He is Stefano Rabolli Pansera, founding director of Khao Yai Art Forest and Bangkok Kunsthalle, and the architect behind this artscape. The fog, created by artist Fujiko Nakaya, is a pioneering work in the realm of temporal sculpture.” continued in the March Issue of Harper’s Bazaar India.

In conversation with Marisa Chearavanont and Stefano Rabolli Pansera about the Khao Yai Art Forest.

Text by Shreya Ajmani

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Of Play & Power: Ai Weiwei takes us through his first show in India

Asked how he would describe the exhibition to an Indian audience, Ai avoids abstraction. “I hope that when they see these artworks, they may sometimes laugh and sometimes contemplate,” he shares. The desired response is neither reverence nor agreement, but fluctuation, between humour and reflection. “And afterward,” he adds, “I would like them to return home and enjoy delicate Indian food.”

Excerpt from Ai Weiwei's interview for Harper's Bazaar India.

Text by Shreya Ajmani

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Time as Witness: Ai Weiwei at Nature Morte

For his solo debut in India, the Chinese artist extended his long-running investigations of history and spectacle, activism and commodification into the local context.

Text by Shreya Ajmani for ArtAsiaPacific.

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Durability in the Global Circuit: India Art Fair 2026

On February 5, India Art Fair (IAF) opened its 17th edition in New Delhi with a measured confidence that reflected the event’s growing institutional maturity and international standing. With a record 135 exhibitors, IAF marked its largest iteration to date. Visitor flow remained steady on opening day, with relaxed entries and movement across the tents gaining further momentum by midday. Established galleries drew their long-standing clientele early on, while a notable contingent of VIP collectors arriving from Art Basel Qatar highlighted an increasingly interconnected global art calendar. Two Indian galleries, Chemould Prescott Road and Nature Morte, participated in both fairs this year. Fair director Jaya Asokan noted: “International attention on South Asian art has reached an inflection point, and [IAF] meets that moment.”

Text by Shreya Ajmani for ArtAsiaPacific.

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Indian Art Collector and Netflix Star Shalini Passi Shares Her Impeccable Collection

​While her collection spans Indian modernists such as M.F. Husain and contemporary artists Bharti Kher and Sheba Chhachhi, Passi traces her earliest relationship with art to spaces far removed from the gallery. “My earliest interactions with art were through temples, architecture, and the visual richness of Indian homes—not museums,” she said. “As a child, I was drawn to colors, textures, and sacred imagery. I learned to feel art before analyzing it. That instinctive relationship has stayed with me. Art has always felt alive rather than decorative.”​

Excerpt from Shalini Passi's interview for Artsy.

Text by Shreya Ajmani

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Anjali Kasturi Takes Us Behind a Door That Forgot Where It Led

It’s snowing outside in Montreal, but inside her warm studio is artist Anjali Kasturi, recalling faint memories of her life as she holds her brush over a tiny canvas. In her recent solo exhibition at Indigo+Madder, Lamina, she lets us behind the veil, revealing “impressions of vanished interiors: a door that forgot where it led, a ribcage where the map once was,” according to her self-written exhibition text. Her delicate and fluid compositions speak to something fragile yet unmistakable—something viewers recognize yet might struggle to manifest into language. She lends a tangibility to her works, creating creeping roots akin to human finger bones crawling on the edges of the canvas, trying to grasp faint memories, which may as well be dreams—indistinguishable visions of recognition or fantasy as we grapple with our day-to-day life in the unrelenting face of time.

Text by Shreya Ajmani for Impulse Magazine.

Photo 1 & 2: Portrait of Anjali Kasturi / Anjali Katsuri, Paper House, 2025. Glass, metal solder, image transfer, 27 x 17 cm. Image courtesy of the artist.

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This year, the Jaipur Art Week activates the city as both site and collaborator

Jaipur Art Week returns for its 5th edition from 27th January to 3rd February, bringing a diverse range of artists to the Pink City.

Text by Shreya Ajmani for Architectural Digest India.

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Meet 14 Women Shaping India’s Booming Art Scene

Over the past two decades, the Indian art market has undergone a profound transformation into a sophisticated ecosystem of galleries, auction houses, biennales, and art events.

Text by Shreya Ajmani for Artsy.

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Inside Satish Gujral’s centenary exhibition at NGMA, through Feroze Gujral’s eyes

Shreya Ajmani: He was one of the first Indian artists to go to Mexico, where he spent his days with Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and David Alfaro Siqueiros. How did that experience shape him?

Feroze Gujral: If you read his autobiography, there’s a stunning chapter about this. He received a scholarship from Octavio Paz, who later became a Nobel laureate, and was sent off on a journey. At the time, it was just a scholarship. He was young, like any other student. I don’t think anyone could have realised how far Mexico would take him. He spent months travelling, fell in love with the place, interned with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and was taught by some of the great muralists, including David Alfaro Siqueiros.

What strikes me most is that he was a deaf young man from India, not speaking the language, without money, getting on a boat and landing on the other side of the world. That built tremendous resilience and fearlessness in him. He was exposed to political narratives in public space, huge murals, art on walls meant for everyone. That was his first real understanding of scale and of communicating through art in a public way. That stayed with him for life.

In conversation with Feroze Gujral about Satish Gujral's ongoing show at NGMA Delhi, his time in Mexico with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and more for the January 2026 print issue of Harper's Bazaar.

Lead image: Feroze Gujral by Angus Guite 

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Behind the scenes at Gisela McDaniel’s studio

An honour to be seen through Gisela McDaniel’s eyes. (I’m the reclining figure)

polaroids by @orkid.arkives