"The face is something we all connect with, but it can mean so much more than just a portrait. It can hold emotions, memories, identity and experiences," says Amrita Kochhar, gallerist and curator of the upcoming exhibition 'Heads: Every Face Holds a Story.' Presented by Nayan Naveli Gallery, the exhibition opens on September 17 at Shridharani Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, and will remain on view until September 23.
For Kochhar, curating the show was about seeing how different artists interpret a familiar subject. "The face becomes a way of understanding the person behind it—their story, their emotions, and sometimes even things that cannot be expressed in words," she says.
The exhibition brings together an extensive body of work by Indian artists, including Anjolie Ela Menon, Jogen Chowdhury, Krishen Khanna, Jatin Das, Arpana Caur, and Sakti Burman, among other leading artists—each of whom has explored the idea of the face in a distinct way. Drawing from such a wide range of generations and artistic backgrounds was, for Kochhar, key to the show's diversity. "I wanted the works to feel different from one another, while still having a connection through the central idea of the face. I was looking for works where the face was not simply being represented, but where the artist was bringing their own thought and visual language to it."
In the process of curating, Kochhar encountered a striking range of interpretations—realistic, abstract, distorted, symbolic, and memory-driven. "As the works came together, I also started seeing the subject differently myself. I realised that 'Heads' was becoming much more than an exhibition about portraits—it was really about people, and the stories we carry with us," she says. "The curation process definitely made me look at the relationship between identity, memory and emotion in a much broader way."
The exhibition is held in memory of Dr. Manjit Kochhar, Kochhar's late mother—a physician who devoted her life to medicine. "Her memory and the values she represented are an important part of why I wanted the exhibition to also have an element of giving back," Kochhar says. In keeping with that spirit, a significant portion of the proceeds from the show will go toward supporting women with cancer.