To Let The World In is a two-volume film project that looks at a significant period in the history of contemporary Indian art from the early 1980s to the present day, featuring the work of three generations of visual artists.

To Let The World In - Volume 1
The first volume of the film chronicles the spirit and legacy of a movement that marked the return to narrativity and figuration in Indian art. The exhibition titled Place for People, which was held in Delhi and Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1981, brought together a group of artists and a critic who sought to explore locality, class and politics in their practice. The film traces the artists’ concerns reflected in their work, tracing it down to the present day. Among the inheritors of the legacy of this movement were younger artists who continued this dialogue and also became the interlocutors for the work started by the earlier generation.

The artists featured in this volume are Arpita Singh, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Vivan Sundaram, Nilima Sheikh, Nalini Malani, Sudhir Patwardhan, Ranbir Kaleka, Pushpamala N., Anita Dube and Atul Dodiya along with art critic and curator Geeta Kapur. Their conversations see frequent visitations by the endearing spirit of Bhupen Khakhar, their friend and co-artist.

To Let The World In - Volume 2
The second volume of the film starts with the tumultuous context of art practice on the cusp of India’s economic liberalisation and the re-assertion of religious fundamentalism in Indian politics. The altered context for art-making in a globalised environment, the crisis in art education in the 1990s and the need to frequently reinvent themselves to adjust to a changing world, are the preoccupations of this group of contemporary artists. An engagement with history, subjectivity and the politics of place find prominence in their work, in their continuing dialogue with the narrative movement of the 1980s.

The artists featured in this volume are Anju Dodiya, Archana Hande, Benitha Perciyal, Sharmila Samant, Parvathi Nayar, Riyas Komu, Tushar Joag, Shilpa Gupta, Josh P.S., Gargi Raina, Sumakshi Singh, T.V. Santhosh, Nataraj Sharma, Anandajit Ray, Gigi Scaria, Reena Saini Kallat and Jitish Kallat. The film was produced by Art Chennai, to accompany the show To Let The World In: Narrative and Beyond in Contemporary Indian Art, curated by Chaitanya Sambrani, held in Chennai in 2012. These portraits have been taken during the making of the film.

Photographs by Sagar Shiriskar.
Text Written & Film directed by Avijit Mukul Kishore.