When art historian and curator Dr. Arshiya Lokhandwala from Mumbai put together an exhibition in Kathmandu, it not only brought together the works of ten influential artists from around South Asia challenging patriarchal narratives, it also brought those artists together, along with a transformative dialogue on feminist art and activism in the region.

The exhibition, "Feminist Futures: Art, Activism, and Southasian Womanhood”, is on at Taragon Next cultural centre in Kathmandu until this Friday, 23 May 2025. The show kicked off on 25 January this year with a six-day cultural intervention that created an intensive space for critical engagement with feminist artistic practices across the region.

The exhibition's title embodies both critique and possibility. Dr. Lokhandwala explains her vision: "When I say feminist futures, I want to see a future which is different, where the show has made an impact, where there is social change," she told Sapan News in Kathmandu when the show started.

Activism, she adds, comes in many forms. For her, activism is something she does through her shows, and in how she narrates and selects the work.

The current show is a collaboration between the nonprofit Saraf Foundation that focuses on restoration, ecology, archival research, and contemporary art, and the cultural centre Taragaon Next in Kathmandu. The show contributes powerfully to contemporary feminist discourse, bringing together the works of ten influential artists from around Southasia, challenging patriarchal narratives.

Critical engagement

Inaugurated on 25 January 2025, the show started with a six-day cultural intervention creating an intensive space for critical engagement with feminist artistic practices across the region.

Holding the show in Nepal carries particular significance, says Dr. Lokhandwala, who holds a PhD from Cornell University and is the founding director and curator of Lakeeren Gallery in Mumbai.

"Looking at Nepal as a space, this is a necessary show. Nepal has very interesting customs, rituals,” she says, questioning how we can “use divine power to empower women instead of capturing her and making her a prisoner?"

Her comments reference Nepal's complex cultural traditions where feminine divinity is venerated while in real life women often remain constrained by patriarchal structures.

Dr. Lokhandwala seeks to interrogate how religious and cultural practices that ostensibly elevate the feminine in abstract terms simultaneously impose restrictive roles on women in everyday life — a paradox evident across Southasian societies where phenomena like goddess worship and veneration of mothers coexist with gender inequality.

Drawing on her extensive experience teaching Southasian feminism at the Art Institute of Chicago, 2015 to 2020, Dr. Lokhandwala brings a deeply informed perspective to the curation, continuing to bridge scholarly research with curatorial practice. Her academic background provides the exhibition's theoretical framework while maintaining its accessibility to diverse audiences.

The careful selection of artists creates what Lokhandwala describes as a narrative union of resistance and possibility.

The exhibition features one artist each from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan, three from Nepal, and four from India. Many of them started their creative journeys in the late ‘80s and early 90s, and knew of each others’ work from that time.

From Sri Lanka, Anoli Perera’s work examines memory and female domesticity. Bangladeshi artist Tayeba Begum Lipi creates powerful statements about violence through everyday objects. Naiza Khan, who splits her time between Pakistan and the U.K. confronts bodily constraints and urban geography through her work. She was also recently honoured at Harvard University as a Distinguished Artist Fellow at the Mittal Institute.

Nepali participants are Ashmina Ranjit, a performance artist addressing socio-political issues Bidhata KC, exploring female identity through traditional materials, and Uma Bista, documenting menstrual restrictions and female seclusion.

The Indian artists are Anita Dube, known for her conceptual explorations of power and marginality, Mithu Sen, renowned for her subversive approach to sexuality and language, Pushpamala N. famous for her photo performances deconstructing female archetypes; and Sheba Chhachi whose installations examine ecology and female asceticism.

The exhibition and its accompanying symposium, ‘Decolonizing the Feminine: Art, Agency and Gendered Politics in South Asia’, offered a rare opportunity for the artists to meet each other.

“I felt we shared a strong bond across borders, and a commitment to our art practice as a form of social transformation,” Naiza Khan told Sapan News in Cambridge MA when she visited Harvard University in April.

Having worked in the area of feminism for a long time, the curator Dr. Lokhandwala told Sapan News in Kathmandu that she knew their works “very, very well,” and had chosen each piece “to talk about our story and a narrative."

The multilayered narrative that emerges speaks to different aspects of women's experiences in South Asia, like bodily autonomy and reproductive rights, evidenced in works addressing menstrual taboos and female seclusion.

Other aspects include economic and domestic power imbalances manifested in representations of household spaces and objects; religious and cultural constraints expressed through reinterpretations of mythological narratives; and collective resistance strategies documented through performance and participatory art practices.

The exhibition's power lies in how it addresses various forms of oppression. These include, as Dr. Lokhandwala observes, mental torture. Oppression doesn't have to be physical harm. “There are different kinds of tortures that say 'Oh, you're not the one. Oh, you cannot do it.'”

In the exhibition, each work highlights “things that need to be questioned," she says.

Individual works in the exhibition speak to specific aspects of feminine experience in Southasia.

Tayeba Begum Lipi's commentary on domestic violence, for instance, transforms everyday objects into powerful symbols of confinement. The work addresses domestic violence, with safety pins “which are supposed to be safe, but actually they are not,” as Dr. Lokhandwala observes.

Pushpamala N reexamines mythological narratives through a contemporary lens, referencing the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, where the demon king Ravana abducts Sita, wife of Lord Rama. Her work interrogates how this foundational narrative, often interpreted as a tale of wifely devotion and feminine purity, subtly reinforces patriarchal ownership of female bodies and legitimizes women's subjugation under the guise of protection — patterns that continue to shape gender relations across contemporary South Asian societies.

Necessary conversations

The exhibition creates "a platform for necessary conversations," as Dr. Lokhandwala says.

Her aim, she adds, is to “change the narrative of society at large” while being aware that this won’t happen overnight. What’s needed is education – including through such shows that hopefully contribute to awareness and greater understanding.

The exhibition's educational mission is particularly crucial in Nepal, where traditional practices continue to shape feminine identity.

Dr. Lokhandwala shares a personal story from 30 years ago when she first visited Nepal to learn more about the Kumari – a prepubescent girl worshipped as a manifestation of divine female energy or Devi. Selected through rigorous criteria and believed to embody the goddess Taleju, these young girls live in seclusion, venerated as living deities until they reach puberty, at which point they are abruptly returned to ordinary life.

The Kumari tradition, distinctive to Nepal's Kathmandu Valley, involves the worship of prepubescent girls as manifestations of divine female energy or Devi. Selected through rigorous criteria and believed to embody the goddess Taleju, these young girls live in seclusion, venerated as living deities until they reach puberty, at which point they are abruptly returned to ordinary life.

“I couldn't believe that this is a person whose feet are not allowed to touch the floor. But the minute she bleeds, she's no longer goddess," Dr. Lokhandwala said.

Dr. Lokhandwala articulates an expanded concept of activism that transcends conventional notions of street protests or public demonstrations (symbolized by the "banner"). Instead, she positions curatorial practice as a form of political intervention — suggesting that the thoughtful selection, contextualization, and presentation of artistic works constitutes a significant mode of feminist resistance and social transformation operating through cultural rather than explicitly political channels.

"We should have been in a completely different space. Let's move on, let's progress. Let's keep the traditions, but we must question what they are. And if they are doing more harm than others, let the women have equal opportunity as men – to study, to be whoever they want, to marry. Give them the freedom, give them the choices. So the show is about that, and I'm hoping that there will be an impact," she said.

Through this powerful convergence of artistic voices and institutional support, "Feminist Futures" not only documents the present state of feminist discourse in South Asia but actively participates in shaping its future. It stands as testament to art's capacity to challenge, transform, and reimagine social realities, creating spaces for dialogue and change in a region grappling with questions of gender justice and equality.

(The writer is a filmmaker and critic based in Kathmandu, Nepal. His work spans short films and documentaries. By special arrangement with Sapan)