Inherited Arts Forum

18/05/2026

Bhuta in Sanskrit means spirit. Set in an ancient, pre-Hindu folk tradition, Bhuta masks are used for worship in the Tulu Nadu region of Karnataka. It involves a religious ceremony called bhuta kola, where an oracle or a priest channels the invoked spirit via performance, who then interacts with its audience by answering questions or solving quarrels. A similar custom called, Theyyam, is practised in the North Malabar region of Kerala where ritual objects, metals masks and ornaments are placed in a sthana after the ceremony and offerings are made. The masks are usually carved in wood or sculpted in bronze.

The bhuta representation is primarily in totemic forms of Panjurli (pig or boar), Pilichamundi (tiger), Nandikona (bull) bhutas, or portrayals acquired from the Hindu pantheon, like, Shiva’s attendants or ganas and Maisandaya, a deity in the form of a bull, worshipped by agrarian communities. Bhuta ceremonies vary across regions and involve a highly charged atmosphere where ancient narrative legends or Paadannas are recited by a woman of the community. The thick metal alloys of the masks make them resistant to the elements of fire, water, and air. This ritual is believed to provide protection against invaders and robbers, elements of fire, storms, flooding, drought, disease and to assure the fertility of the soil, livestock, and human experience.

DM us for an e-catalogue.


All image courtesy the artists and Inherited Arts Forum.

11/05/2026

Mangala Bai Maravi, an artist from the Baiga community in Madhya Pradesh collaborates with textile designers David Abraham & Rakesh Thakore to translate her godna tattoo iconography—carrying inscriptions of the self, spiritual and community—onto double ikat textiles. Handwoven in the Puttapaka village of Telangana, the textiles incorporate symbols drawn from the geometries of godna, which are layered further with hand-painted interventions by Mangala Bai in a bold experiment with colour.

MANGALA BAI MARAVI WITH ABRAHAM & THAKORE
2026
Cotton, double ikat, ink
Contributing Artist: Gajam Goverdhan



DM us for an e-catalogue.

All image courtesy the artists and Inherited Arts Forum.

06/05/2026

These works in the exhibition 'No-One Maker' emerge from a sustained collaborative exchange between Mansukh Bhai Khatri, one of the last remaining custodians of Bela block printing from Bela village in Kutch, Gujarat and six year long partnership with the textile design studio Morii.

Bela was once a thriving centre of block printing, closely connected with the trade routes with Sindh. Over time, with changing economies and the increasing migration, the practice slowly declined. Today, Mansukh Bhai continues to hold this knowledge and perseveres to carry it forward. Much of the hand block printing process still lives in his hands—preparing dyes, printing, washing, and intuitively adjusting each stage based on years of generational lived experience. Morii’s collaboration with Mansukh Bhai began in 2021 at Khamir in Kutch at his workshop, without a fixed outcome in mind.

The process began by studying the archival wooden blocks of Bela preserved by Mansukh Bhai, some over seventy years old. What stood out was their scale. The older blocks were small, light, and allowed a distinct freedom of movement. Morii started by taking impressions of each block, isolating and extracting individual symbols from larger motif clusters. At some point, these motifs began to feel like stitches, block printing started to behave like embroidery, from there, the work opened up. Currently, through this ongoing collaboration Morii has documented a library of forty new motifs.

The works are still on display at our space at Inherited Arts Forum.

DM us for an e-catalogue.

All image courtesy the artists and Inherited Arts Forum.

01/05/2026

Sharing some glimpses from the exhibition - 'No-One Maker' at Bikaner House, curated by Sreyansi Singh.

Featuring the display by a collaborative effort by Jigmat Couture and Mizoram-based artist and designer Hannah Khiangte. An intricate body of work that reconstructs traditional Ladakhi garments as contemporary miniatures, foregrounding the cultural, spiritual, and material histories that are re-interpreted within regional attire along with weaving display representing the works by women weavers and various communities of Aizwal.

Ranging from meticulously crafted robes and dresses to decorative garments and yarns, the collaboration between Jigmat Couture and designer Hannah Khiangte is a symbolic juxtaposition of tradition and modern design elements representing the cultural sartorial diversity and weaving craftsmanship of the Himalayan region and the Aizwal region.

DM us for an e-catalogue.


All image courtesy the artists and Inherited Arts Forum.

27/04/2026

"This work did not begin with a fixed concept. It began with time. Time spent returning to the same homes. Time spent understanding rhythms of daily life. Time spent stitching side by side, where conversation moves in and out of silence. Over the years, the quilts have become a space where stories surface — sometimes spoken, sometimes held quietly within gesture and touch. The Siddi community has lived in India for centuries, yet they are often made to feel like outsiders. Their African ancestry marks them as visibly different, even though this land is home. There is an ongoing negotiation between belonging and exclusion that shapes everyday experience.

The quilts in this exhibition do not position the women as subjects of my practice. They are makers and collaborators. They decide what is stitched, how motifs evolve, which fabrics are chosen, and how narratives are embedded. The process unfolds through dialogue. It is not extraction; it is exchange.The materials themselves carry layered journeys. Some fabrics were originally produced for distant markets and later returned as surplus or rejected stock. Others arrive as remainder — excess circulating back through local markets after being displaced elsewhere. These textiles travel across borders, valued in one place and reduced in another."

- Anitha N. Reddy

DM us for an e-catalogue.


All image courtesy the artists and Inherited Arts Forum.

Artwork detail:
Anitha N. Reddy with Fatimabi Devkari and Haniphabi Gunjavati
Upcycled cotton scraps, cotton yardage and non-woven batting
92 x 94 in.
2023

22/04/2026

Thank you from all of us for making No ‘One’ Maker: Textiles as Community a huge success!

The exhibition is on view at our space at Inherited Arts Forum and you may reach out to us for an e-catalogue of the works at

18/04/2026

Some glimpses from our recently closed exhibition - No ‘One’ Maker: Textiles as Community, curated by Sreyansi Singh () at Centre for Contemporary Arts, Bikaner House. ()

The exhibition is closed but you may reach out to us for an e-catalogue of the works at .

.design

06/04/2026

Glimpses from our ongoing exhibition - No ‘One’ Maker: Textiles as Community, curated by Sreyansi Singh () at Centre for Contemporary Arts, Bikaner House. ()

The exhibition is on view until April 8, 2026.

Video Credit: Taruna Hooda ()

.design

05/04/2026

No ‘One’ Maker: Textiles as Community, a conversation between Kabir(Morii), Mansukh Bhai Khatri, Mangala Bai Maravi with David Abraham (Abraham and Thakore), Lekha Poddar (Devi Art Foundation) and the curator of the show Sreyansi Singh.
Talking about the living cartography of indigenous making today.

.design

04/04/2026

31/03/2026

Join us for a conversation with Kabir (Co-founder MORII), Mansukh Pitambari Khatri (Last remaining custodian for Bela Block Printing), David Abraham (Co-founder, Abraham & Thakore), Mangala Bai Maravi (Baiga Tattoo Artist) and Lekha Poddar (Founder, Devi Art Foundation), moderated by Sreyansi Singh, Curator of the exhibition. 

Collaboration between contemporary art, design and craft is often framed in terms of cultural exchange and dialogue, yet beneath this language sits a difficult set of considerations: who benefits, who speaks and who decides in such collaborative making. The persistence of the singular recognized author in contemporary culture production usually dictates the current collaborative models, and casts aside indigenous, community-led modes. Here, the authorship is attributed and created as a tool for shared futures, most particularly in textile practices, where the making is with communities, nature and ancestors. The conversation centres the question of how to reposition the makers as artists, theorists, and innovators who are able to control their own design, representation and modes of production, and collaborators can strengthen this framework. 

Date: 4 April, 2026
Time: 4:00 PM 
Venue: 1st Floor, Centre for Contemporary Arts, Bikaner House, New Delhi 
design, , , ,

Stay tuned to know more about the works we have in our collection and DM us for an e-catalogue.



All image courtesy the artists and Inherited Arts Forum.