How does an artist reimagine civilizational narratives that have been around since time immemorial? For Sankha Banerjee, engaging with the Mahabharata meant getting in a time machine in the form of the Archaeological Survey of India's files on Hastinapur. What kinds of tools did people use in that dim and distant past? How did they accessorize? What colours did one see in the bazaars?

While he found answers to many of these questions in the archives, Sankha realized that he did not have to go beyond his immediate surroundings to study "subaltern" figures. The image of "bare life" had remained largely unchanged across epochs. Thus, characters like the "Chandal", whom Vishwamitra asked for food during a drought, became entry-points into the text. From that vantage, the philosophical debates that excited Banerjee in the stories began to yield fresh meaning.

His attention to detail, mastery over the medium, and ability to imagine epic scales are amply evident in the selection of works here. They are accompanied by his research sketches and drawings, brought to life through animation, to provide fascinating insights into his process. Trained at Rabindra Bharati University, Sankha has exhibited widely across the globe, and collaborated with Sibaji Bandyopadhyay on Vyasa: The Beginning (2017).

Projection Mapping Assistance: Sarvesh Ayush Srivastav

Animation Assistance: Sayam, Ankush Chakraborty