What can a face reveal beyond the person it belongs to? That question formed the starting point of HEADS – Every Face Holds a Story, a group exhibition that brought together diverse interpretations of the human face at Shridharani Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi.Curated by gallerist Amrita Kochhar, the exhibition, which concluded on September 23, brought together works by artists including Anjolie Ela Menon, Arpana Caur, Jatin Das, Jogen Chowdhury, K Laxma Goud, Krishen Khanna, Rameshwar Broota, Sakti Burman, Shipra Bhattacharya, Thota Vaikuntam and Vasundhara Broota, among others.
Rather than treating the face simply as a subject for portraiture, the exhibition approached it as a visual language — a space where identity, emotion, memory, thought and experience could take different forms.The works moved across styles and generations. While some artists engaged with recognisable faces and portraiture, others used abstraction, distortion, symbolism and imagination to explore what lies beneath or beyond physical appearance. The resulting collection offered contrasting ways of looking at a subject that is at once universally familiar and deeply personal.Several works created specifically for the exhibition were also presented alongside selected works by established artists, bringing together newer interpretations with artistic practices developed over decades.“The head is perhaps one of the most powerful subjects in art. It carries identity, thought, emotion, memory and experience,” said Kochhar. “With HEADS, we wanted to bring together artists who see this subject in profoundly different ways. Every face holds a story, and every artist reveals a different chapter.”
The exhibition also carried a personal significance for Kochhar, being held in memory of her late mother, Dr Manjit Kochhar. A doctor who was associated with medicine, charity and seva, she was remembered through the showcase as an individual whose values extended beyond her profession.By bringing together established masters, senior practitioners and contemporary voices, HEADS turned a familiar artistic subject into a conversation about how faces can hold fragments of personal history, cultural memory and imagination.