Chanakya School Embroidery Exhibition 'En Route' Opens at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai
The 'En Route' exhibition at the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai will be on display until 20 October 2026, featuring embroidery from the Chanakya School of Craft. This initiative originated from a 2025 encounter between designer Maria Grazia Chiuri and Karishma Swali, the founder of Chanakya, who discovered writings by six 19th-century women travelers in the Vatican. The exhibit includes four textile panels and manuscripts, which were later modified in Mumbai to incorporate the city's historical context. Celebrating Chanakya's 40th anniversary and the School's 10th, the exhibition showcases embroidered phrases such as 'Femininity, the trap' and underscores the importance of collective creativity, with Swali noting, 'Craft itself is a language,' and Chiuri highlighting the value of collaboration.
Key facts
- 'En Route' is on display at Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai until 20 October 2026.
- The exhibition takes six 19th-century women travellers as its point of departure: Nellie Bly, Annie Londonderry, Gertrude Bell, Elizabeth Bisland, Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson.
- In 2025, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Karishma Swali encountered the travellers' writings in the Vatican Apostolic Library while researching a site-specific commission for the Vatican's Jubilee year.
- The Vatican installation featured four large textile panels made of layered linen and hemp, worked in kantha, alongside manuscripts and two handmade globes.
- The work travelled from the Vatican to Mumbai, where the exhibition expanded with new works responding to the city and museum.
- The exhibition is part of celebrations marking 40 years of Chanakya and ten years of the Chanakya School of Craft.
- The Mumbai works trace the city's history from Ptolemy's Heptanesia and the Koli communities through reclamation, harbour, mills, chawls and art deco seafront.
- Embroidered text includes 'Femininity, the trap' from Simone de Beauvoir; the 'Antrik Vishwa' section features embroidered inner worlds.
Entities
Artists
- Maria Grazia Chiuri
- Karishma Swali
- Nellie Bly
- Annie Londonderry
- Gertrude Bell
- Elizabeth Bisland
- Agnes Smith Lewis
- Margaret Dunlop Gibson
- Simone de Beauvoir
- Aastha D.
- Chanakya School
Institutions
- Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum
- Chanakya School of Craft
- Chanakya International and Foundation
- Vatican Apostolic Library
- Columbia University
- Center for the Study of Social Difference (CSSD)
- Proseterity
Locations
- Mumbai
- India
- Vatican
- Mount Sinai
- Cambridge