New Delhi is witnessing a rare artistic dialogue where body, memory and craft merge seamlessly, led in particular by the Kashmir-rooted textile imagination of Insha Manzoor, as India’s oldest modern art space — Dhoomimal Gallery — unveils “Ski(e)n: Remembering the Self through Skin and Thread”.
Curated by Jyoti A. Kathpalia, the exhibition brings together the works of Royal College of Art alumni Abhijna Vemuru Kasa and Insha, who hails from South Kashmir. The exhibition is open to the public till January 10, 2026.
While both artists engage deeply with embodied experience and the threads of lived histories, it is Kashmiri artist Insha Manzoor whose practice stands out for its emotive resonance with home, memory, and inheritance.
Drawing from a landscape shaped by shifting social and political tides, Insha’s work transforms craft traditions of her homeland — weaving, namda-making, knots and intricate textile motifs — into vessels of care and remembrance. Each thread becomes a conduit between past and present, stitching fragile connections between belonging and identity.
The exhibition foregrounds the embodied self, where skin becomes the mutable surface of lived experience and skeins — the threads of personal and collective memory — map the dense layers of inheritance. If Abhijna, based between Hyderabad and San Francisco, uses performance and body painting to interrogate how myths and ritual restrict feminine identity, Insha uses handwork to rebuild what is lost, reimagining the self through touch, thread, and labour.
Her practice reflects the quiet resilience of craft: inherited knowledge passed through generations, the warmth of wool, the intimacy of knots tied by hand. Insha’s works serve as meditations on home — what it offers, what it withholds, and how it survives in memory even when terrains shift. While distinct in medium and vocabulary, both artists intersect in their interrogation of systems that confine the feminine body and in their pursuit of alternate languages of resistance and care.
Speaking to Rising Kashmir, Insha said Dhoomimal Gallery holds a very special place in her heart. “Stepping into its space feels like stepping into a living history of Indian art—a place where generations of artists have breathed, dreamt, struggled and blossomed. To be able to show my work here is not just an opportunity; it feels like becoming part of a legacy,” she said. “Showing my work here feels like being seen, identified, understood and held with care. Dhoomimal Gallery is not just a venue—it’s a home where art and emotions meet, and I feel deeply honoured to be part of this story.”
The exhibition also embraces new media as an essential part of its visual vocabulary. The skin as surface, and skein as cultural carrier, appear across photographs, performance documentation, immersive installations, and mixed media works. Performance, body-painting, textiles, screens, and spatial installations become layered sites where traditional craft vocabularies are reconfigured into contemporary, digital idioms.
Curator Jyoti A. Kathpalia said: “This exhibition negotiates the self and the gender-inscribed body, using cultural motifs and craft to recover fragile connections between the individual and her environment. Though working in different media, Abhijna and Insha converge in re-inscribing parity and presence through skin and skein.”
Gallery Director Uday Jain said: “Both artists possess a distinct international outlook while remaining deeply rooted in their cultural contexts. This duality lends their work a rare individuality and relevance.” He also announced a new contemporary floor, Dhoomimal Contemporary, to be launched in January 2026 under the leadership of Sunaina Jain, signalling a renewed commitment to emerging and experimental art practices.
Sunaina Jain added, “Dhoomimal Gallery’s commitment to bringing younger artists to the fore has always been integral to our vision. New perspectives and daring explorations are vital to the evolving language of contemporary art.” Ski(e)n: Re-membering the Self through Skin and Thread showcases works in oils, acrylics, mixed media, wool, thread, fabric, installation, and performance, with photographs and video expanding the narrative through documentation. Walkthroughs and artist interactions will accompany the exhibition. Formally inaugurated by Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the event drew eminent artists including Biman Das, Sidharth, Hem Raj, Vinod Bhardwaj, Manoj Agarwal, Nupur Kundu, along with several members of the art fraternity.
In this powerful confluence of craft and contemporary thought, Insha’s Kashmir-rooted sensibility becomes a luminous thread, reminding viewers that memory survives not only in stories and scars, but in the quiet persistence of the handmade — in knots, wool and woven whispers of home.
