Objects May Appear Softer

Objects May Appear Softer brought together 21 Indian women artists across generations, geographies, and mediums at Black Cube Gallery, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, from July 24 to September 4, 2025. Curated by Sanya Malik, the exhibition featured Yashika Sugandh alongside celebrated names including Manisha Parekh, Madhvi Parekh, Hema Upadhyay, and Sujata Bajaj, forming a powerful collective exploration of the female gaze in contemporary Indian art.

The exhibition’s title plays on the familiar phrase “objects in the mirror may appear closer than they are,” gesturing toward perception and its quiet deceptions. What is often seen as soft, whether in gesture, material, or identity, is too easily mistaken for fragility. Yet within this presumed delicacy lies rigor, resistance, and remarkable clarity. The works confronted this misreading, proving layered, forceful, and unafraid to be both tender and exacting.

Through deeply personal, mythic, ecological, and political explorations, each artist reclaimed space by disrupting conventional narratives and expanding understanding of what constitutes the female gaze. The exhibition presented not a singular statement but a multifaceted visual chorus: textured, layered, and embodied. These artists spanned generations, languages, and approaches, united by a refusal to be simplified. Their works invited viewers to move beyond the surface, to see with care, to listen to quieter rhythms, and to recognize the force embedded in materiality, gesture, and gaze.