The 1981 exhibition Place for People was a landmark event in India's modern art scene. It emerged right after Indira Gandhi's Emergency and her return to power. Conceived by Geeta Kapur in collaboration with a group of artists, the exhibition showcased a broad array of pictorial narratives. These ranged from bustling street life to intimate personal reflections, all with the aim of bringing people back into the artistic spotlight.
The exhibition featured mid-career artists like Gulammohammed Sheikh, Bhupen Khakhar, and Jogen Chowdhury. Younger talents such as Vivan Sundaram, Nalini Malani, and Sudhir Patwardhan also participated. It was a radical shift within India's art history, designed to resonate deeply within the social, artistic, and political atmosphere of the time. The populist title and the catalogue's mix of text and images were crafted to convey historical narratives in a fresh way.
In the exhibition catalogue, Kapur's essay paid tribute to the artists by letting them express their own stories. This approach bypassed the usual role of the critic as the judge of aesthetic value. By focusing on the figure in the 1980s, the exhibition carved out a critical moment in Indian modernism. It juxtaposed personal and collective experiences, exploring overlapping timelines.
Sheikh's works stood out as emblematic of the narrative figuration that gained traction in the 1980s. His paintings captured the vibrant tempo of Indian urban life. They were rich with visual references to Mughal and Pahari traditions, as well as the narrative flair of phad painting. His work prompted a reevaluation of Indian modern art as an ongoing dialogue with historical ideas. Beyond the canvas, his paintings offered a visual meditation on social space and a decisive expression of place.
The exhibition also delved into themes of isolation and community. While Sheikh and Khakhar zeroed in on densely populated urban environments, Sundaram and Malani turned their gaze to domestic interiors, revealing intricate interpersonal dynamics. Patwardhan and Chowdhury, meanwhile, portrayed existential solitude.
Vivan Sundaram's Passage (1981) was a quintessential example of the narrative figuration of Place for People. The composition, vivid in color and light, articulated urban isolation and alienation. It featured multiple figures, such as a man leaning out of a window and a sari-clad woman dancing, disrupting a single cohesive narrative. This openness invited viewers to explore the image at will, mirroring Sundaram's interest in fragmented urban experiences and psychological landscapes.
Art critic Ranjit Hoskote described the exhibition as an 'exhibition-as-manifesto.' The participating artists rejected the abstract idealism that characterized the previous generation. Yet, it wasn't just a gesture of refusal; it was an initiative for the future, deeply rooted in the educational and artistic environment of the Faculty of Fine Arts at MSU Baroda. The exhibition played a crucial role in securing international recognition for Indian contemporary art.
Rekha Rodwittiya's The Indian Businessman and his English Lover (1983) tackled the evolving transactional relationship between India and the West. Although not part of the exhibition, the mixed-media piece depicted a smiling Indian man with a European woman, raising questions about cultural contact and power imbalances in global exchange. The spatial arrangement critiqued the social position of women within patriarchal structures, using everyday life as a metaphor for economic and cultural negotiation.
