LONDON.- Multidisciplinary British artist Nandita Chaudhuri presents DISPLACEMENT – The Hush of Footsteps Left Behind this September at Zari Gallery, London. This ambitious and boundary-breaking solo exhibition blends painting, digital works, poetry, performance, and sculptural forms into an immersive sensory experience that pushes the edges of contemporary art practice.
The exhibition will showcase a new series of paintings, layered with Chaudhuri’s poetry and digital media. Seen in dialogue with one another — or merging through projection, holography, and animation — these works generate powerful crosscurrents of meaning.
The poems reflect on relationships, human vulnerability, and the nuances of daily life, while the visual works evoke both empathy and critique. The result is an exploration of the human predicament in an age defined by technology and disconnection.
Nandita Chaudhuri, Conjuring Dreams, 150 x 150 cm. Oil and acrylic on canvas.
Chaudhuri explains, “My mixed-media paintings are alive in my head, their characters moving in atypical, often troubling ways. The visual alone was not enough — I needed the works to breathe through poetry, prose, holograms, or animation. Each piece evolves as a hybrid of painting, text, video, augmented reality, and digital experimentation. The animated canvases are emotional yet satirical responses to the issues of our times, while the poetry becomes a sharp underlayer, exposing their deeper tensions.”
Widely recognised for pioneering the intersection of traditional and digital forms, Chaudhuri’s animated paintings and “smart NFTs” have positioned her at the forefront of technology-driven art. Her practice relies on visual metaphors and poetic counterpoints, creating works that are not simply to be viewed, but engaged with — demanding reflection on the values and dissonances of modern society. When her painting and poetry are experienced together, they produce an intensity neither medium could achieve alone.
Nandita Chaudhuri, Introspection, 60 x 36”. Oil and acrylic on canvas.
A highlight of the exhibition will be DISPLACEMENT, a live multi-sensory performance. Staged across four acts and interspersed with contemporary dance, the performance transforms poems from Chaudhuri’s acclaimed book UNMASKED into dialogue and song. It unfolds as a dialogue between Life and Death, beginning in accusation, moving toward acceptance, and merging into a cosmic union. Alongside, the performance examines attachments and illusions, self-image and perception, bias and conditioning, before closing with a powerful meditation on karma, free will, and the possibility of destiny as either celestial design or chaos embraced. Layered with projection mapping, holographic elements, and a haunting soundscape, DISPLACEMENT extends the exhibition into an unforgettable theatrical dimension.
The themes resonate closely with Chaudhuri’s own journey — marked by movement across cultures and geographies, navigating the spaces between memory, migration, and identity.
Working between London, Dubai, and Mumbai, Chaudhuri holds an MA in Fine Arts from Camberwell (University of the Arts London, TrAIN Research Centre) and a Postgraduate Degree in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art, UAL, alongside study at Slade School of Fine Art. Her work has been shown internationally, including at the Musa Pavilion during the 59th Venice Biennale (2022), the British Museum, Royal Academy of Arts, Saatchi Gallery, and the China Art Museum. She has received the International Caravaggio Prize – Great Master of the Arts in Milan. In March 2025, Nandita was conferred a Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership and Excellence as an Artist, Poet and Author by the Global Feather Group. She was also the recipient of the prestigious International Excellence Award 2025, in recognition of her outstanding contribution in the field of literature from Excellor Books; for her book UNMASKED published by Mapin.
This exhibition launches her recent book UNMASKED (Mapin Publishing), featuring 300 poems and paintings, epitomising her multi-layered practice. Like her exhibition, it merges image and text into a deeply introspective exploration of the human condition, marked by brutality and tenderness, satire and empathy — an experience as layered and expansive as Chaudhuri’s art itself.
