– Current –
Glynn Vivian Museum, Swansea, UK
Nov 2018 – ONGOING
PAUL MELLON CURATORIAL RESEARCH FELLOW
Glynn Vivian was the recipient of the hugely prestigious Paul Mellon Center for Studies in British Art Curatorial Research Grant for 2021/22, enabling it to create this post for the Imperial Subjects: (Post)Colonial Conversations between South Asia & Britain project, which is part of the museum’s drive to “decolonize” its collection. The project involves several separate events and curatorial ventures, including:
TIGERS & DRAGONS: INDIA & WALES in Britain
Co-curated, with Katy Freer, Head of Exhibitions at Glynn Vivian, an exhibition directly related to the Imperial Subjects project, Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain (23 May – 2 November 2025) explores the iconography of South Asian nations and Wales; examining how they have imagined themselves—or been imagined—over the centuries.
If India was the Jewel in the Imperial Crown, could we argue that Wales was England’s first colony? As Wales struggles for its identity within ‘British-ness’, it is timely to re-assess the way it contributed to, benefited from and, even, suffered for Britain’s Imperial ambitions. The show investigates the British Empire’s legacy and its continuing relevance for Welsh identity as well as for India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The exhibition traces the social and political complexities of the India-Wales relationship. Highlighting Imperial connections (through war, trade and language), it also probes other equivalences. If Wales is England’s Internal Colony, as India was once an External one, what can we learn from comparing the two? The exhibition considers the visual symbolism of both Imperial subjugation (the Indian Tiger dominated by the Lion of Britannia; the Red Welsh Dragon pitted against the White Dragon of England) and national awakening. Just as Indian independence movements were inspired by ideas of Mother India, similarly Welsh nationalism clings to the skirts of Mother Wales. New commissions by contemporary artists (such as Goa-based performance artist Nikhil Chopra) have been supported by CELF (national contemporary art gallery for Wales).
Installation views of Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain. A Glynn Vivian Art Gallery exhibition, 2025. Artworks courtesy and copyright the artists. Photography Polly Thomas.
Nikhil Chopra, From Land to Fire part of the Tigers & Dragons: India and Wales in Britain exhibition, 2025. Costumes designed by Loise Braganza. Image courtesy the artist. Photographer: Polly Thomas.


Image from Nikhil Chopra’s photo series, What will I do with all this land? (2005) with a photograph of Glynn Vivian dressed as Orlando in 1884; photograph taken by H.S. Mendelssohn, London.
ART & Industry stories from south wales
- Guest Curating the exhibition, Art & Industry: Stories from South Wales (7 April – 11 July 2022). Drawing predominantly from the permanent art collection of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery as well as archival material from Swansea Council’s West Glamorgan Archive Service and Swansea Museum, the exhibition was one of the first to examine the region’s art and industrial heritage through the ‘big’ names of Welsh art history. It also presents a unique opportunity for local communities to share their own memories and involvement with the Welsh industrial landscape via workshops, lectures and talks. The latter will intersect with the British Council’s India-Wales collaborative venture, Connections Through Culture, which consists of a series of online ZOOM panels and a website with the Science Gallery, Bangalore, and the Museum Society of Mumbai.
Curatorial Note & Catalogue for Art & Industry
ART & INDUSTRY: CONNECTIONS THROUGH CULTURE
The product of the Connections Through Culture India-Wales Grant 2021/2022, this collaboration between the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea; the Science Gallery Bengaluru; the Museum Society of Mumbai (under the stewardship of Pheroza Godrej) and myself was awarded a grant from British Council Wales for a project exploring Art & Industry in India and Wales. Industrial connections between India and Wales stretch from the imperial era to the present day. The initiative probed these enmeshed histories and contemporary concerns through interdisciplinary digital events bringing together curators, (art) historians, scientists and economists from India and Wales. The initiative included the creation of a permanent website.
Connections Through Culture
Art & Industry Website
Zoom Panel
– Past –
Raqib Shaw’s US Museum Tour
July 2022 – March 2025
GUEST CURATOR
Raqib Shaw: Ballads of East and West was co-organized by the Frist Art Museum, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and myself. The show takes its title from Rudyard Kipling’s 1887 Ballad of East and West. The so-called ‘Poet of Empire’ is usually remembered for proclaiming of the East and West that “Never the Twain Shall Meet”. But, Shaw proposes the opposite. In this exhibition of dreamlike self-portraits, East and West ‘meet’ in art to remarkable effect. Accompanied by a comprehensive publication with a substantial curatorial essay, Shaw’s first major presentation in the US will travel to four venues across the country between 2023 to 2025:
Exhibition Tour:
- Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN: September 15–December 31, 2023
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA: February 15–May 12, 2024
- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX: June 9–September 2, 2024
- The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA: November 15, 2024–March 3, 2025
First Art Museum Article
Curatorial Lecture
Book
Gallery Guide
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Wall-text
E-Flux announcement
LENBACHHAUS MUSEUM, MUNICH, GERMANY
19 OCT 2021 – 12 June 2022
Curatorial Advisor
Advising, alongside Pakistani art historian Dr Samina Iqbal, on the South Asian art component of the Lenbachhaus’ major exhibition, Group Dynamics II: Collectives of the Modernist Period, scheduled to open on 19 October 2021. The role has involved participating in curatorial brainstorming sessions on concepts of the Modern, assisting in the choosing and sourcing of relevant artworks and writing an essay for the catalogue.
Virtual Tour of the India-Pakistan room at Group Dynamics: Collectives from the Modernist Period at Lenbachhaus, Munich

Grosvenor Gallery, London, UK
10 Sept 2021 – 1 OCT 2021
Guest Curator
Patterns of the Past: Weaving Heritage in ‘Pakistani’ Art was a group show comprising 5 artists: Adeela Suleman, Bushra Waqas Khan, David Chalmers
See Overview
BEN URI MUSEUM & GALLERY, LONDON, UK
AUG 2020 – OCT 2020
Academic Advisor
Midnight’s Family: 70 Years of Indian Artists in Britain was a mega-group exhibition comprising 3 generations of Indian artists in the UK. Curated by Rachel Dickson and artist Shanti Panchal, I advised on the project and provided the framing text for the show. Midnight’s Family marked the launch of Ben Uri’s 3D Virtual Museum, garnering international coverage; including mentions in BBC London, The Guardian Guide, Art Daily as well as reviews and previews in publications all over the Subcontinent.

Yinka Shonibare, Arts House Museum, Singapore
Jan 2019 – Jan 2020
Curator
Conceptualizing a site-specific commission by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare for The Old Parliament House – the oldest building in Singapore. The immersive installation, Justice For All (13 – 31 January 2020), included a life-size mock-up of F.W. Pomeroy’s statue of Lady Justice at London’s Old Bailey. Sponsored by the National Arts Council, Singapore, it garnered substantial coverage from local and international press, including Artforum International & Hyperallergic.com.
See: Hyperallergic
Grosvenor Gallery, London, UK
May 2019 – Jun 2020
Guest Curator
Form & Figure: Bodies of Art was a group show comprising 3 Pakistani artists: Faiza Butt, Salman Toor & Ali Kazim, a collaboration between Grosvenor and Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan. It ran from 11-26 June 2020, consisted of specially commissioned work that negotiated the tension between figuration and abstraction, faith and form, in contemporary Pakistani art. The show received substantial coverage, including reviews and features in Dawn, FAD magazine, Youlin magazine, HELLO! Pakistan and an interview in The New York Times with Salman Toor, which focused on his painting for the show, Green Group (2020).

ASIA SOCIETY MUSEUM, NEW YORK, US
FEB 2017 – JAN 2019
Guest Curator
Co-curated The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India (14 September 2018-20 January 2019), the first exhibition dedicated to the Progressive Artists’ Group at an international institution. The exhibition contained over 80 artworks of Modern Indian art juxtaposed with Asian antiquities from the Rockefeller collection at the Asia Society. The show garnered coverage from the BBC, The New York Times, The Wallstreet Journal, Frieze, Art in America and Artforum International, amongst others.
See: NY Times article


Zehra Jumabhoy / The Progressive Revolution: Modern Art for a New India
