VIDHA Saumya

19/01/2026

03/09/2025

Long time no see
I've been drawing

14/06/2025

ग़म बेतरतीब हैं
दिल के करीब हैं
दिल है भी या नहीं
सीने में एक जगह
खाली मालूम होती है

16/11/2024

Nineteen years—a mere blink in the eye and still many different lives had passed since we last met Mahendra Damle, our teacher, our tormentor, our guide. As we sat across from him once again, memory and presence entwined. Of course, time had left its traces; it always does. There were stories to spill, laughter to rediscover, and the bittersweet tang of unfinished sentences hanging between us. "We must meet again," next time with some splash and spirits. As students, we had orbited him like erratic moons, drawn by the gravity of his brilliance, annoyed at times by the jagged edges of his authority. Awe, admiration, irritation—they coexisted. Ali and I always felt very loved by him. Now we found ourselves once more in his orbit, ready for many meandering conversations.

12/11/2024

How lucky to be in Bombay to see works in the exhibition 'Stain Canon' at Gallery XXL this evening. Priyanka is showing their work alongside artists Anikesa Dhing and liactuallee.

I have long been drawn to Priyanka’s work, always curious to see the hairatangez karnaame that spill from their mind. Hence, it was thrilling to see them in the exhibition, in the presence of their works.

What stays with me, always, in Priyanka's work, is the gaze: not just a witness but a participant, peeling back the surface of what is to reveal what remains unseen - there is the complexity of language, of worlds, of the selves we carry and confront.

Don't miss the show. Go, if you can. Follow their work, and let it unravel what you thought you knew.

03/11/2024

Sun filled love filled Kenya

27/09/2024

Reading my poem 'Sky moved city to city' at the opening of the exhibition 'After the Sun' curated by Helga Christoffersen at . Next to me are eleven cross-stitch embroidery works completed between 2019-2024 that re-create our delicate and overwhelming digital media experience. These ‘digital drawings’ often begin with a found photograph - an exploding bus in a national protest, shattered window panes in a conflict zone, a peaceful sky over a war zone, or the rose bush outside my window.

Explosions, skies, wounds, flowers – the chosen images trigger universal emotions. When screened through the stitches, the emotion becomes unique for each viewer. These works have formed from images of events deemed insignificant as they become the past. So these cross-stitched blots or stains could be seen as an automatic reaction of having absorbed a moment of history, an attempt to stay longer with the image.

Warm thanks to Nanna Hjortenberg, Sara Hatla, Louise Birch Sørensen and the entire team at Gammel Strand for this fabulous exhibition and the opening program where I could meet many of the artists in the exhibition.

22/09/2024

सितंबर आ गया हेलसिंकी में
दोपहर से ही शाम होने लगी है
कुनकुनी इसकी संगत में
चाल मद्धम होने लगी है

04/09/2024

Thrilled and fulfilled to have completed painting Weekday Poems and installing 'Naap' at .lv 🌶️ organized by .lv this festival that embeds itself into the city has been a learning experience...not just because of how a city (my favourite topic) imbues itself into the works that several artists are presenting here, but also because of how multifold a city's meanings are. Just like the balmy breeze of a summer evening, the past four days of installing have been delightful, thanks to the outstanding support from the festival, its director producer and the many members that remain committed to bringing this all together.

03/09/2024

September comes
And I still feel there will be no autumn

01/09/2024

On my way to Riga to install my drawings and poems at .lv

The exhibition 'Measures', curated by Jussi Koitela, celebrates the different modes and temporalities of knowing, by exploring material, cultural and social meaning within Riga’s urban context.

This drawing is from the series 'Naap' (measure) made in 2008 in Lahore.

"‘Chaudah,’ he intoned, scratching the shoulder measurement onto the paper.
‘Nahin, sadhe chaudah,’ she countered, a touch of urgency lacing her voice.
A haggle ensued, a dance over fractions of inches. He grudgingly appended a “.5” to the stark
“14” already etched. Precision, she realised, was the only defence against the dreaded
“Bollywood fit” that would leave her gasping for air. Yet, a disquieting desire to appease
bloomed alongside it, a fear of antagonising the man who could just as easily render the blouse a
sartorial tragedy. Her senses sharpened, the quiet desperation for this creation to be a flawless
cocoon." - excerpted from a text written for the work.

05/08/2024

वे छात्र भी हैं, वे पात्र भी हैं
वे दिवस भी हैं, वे रात्र भी हैं
मशाल भी हैं, पतवार भी हैं
कांपी जिन से सरकार भी हैं