Conceived and co-authored during the pandemic by Mortimer Chatterjee, gallerist and co-founder of Chatterjee & Lal an art gallery based in Mumbai — this publication explores Indian modern and contemporary art.

Fifty-four artists, curators, historians and writers were invited to contribute by drawing up a selection of five artworks made at any time since 1900, by artists living in India or identifying as part of its diaspora, and writing short texts about each. The selections transgress rigid demarcations and push against received histories, taking a broad and inclusive approach.

Volume 1 presents all the selected works, generously illustrated and sequenced in a manner that flags both the resonances and the dissonances apparent in the art scene as its focus has moved and shifted since the beginning of the 20th century. Volume 2 includes a register of our nominators’ lists, each detailed on a separate double-page spread, so giving prominence to the logic that informs the individual groupings. 

Contributors to the publication include Atul Dodiya, Shilpa Gupta, Sudhir Patwardhan, and Nikhil Chopra among others.