VENICE.- Pooja Singhal, Founder of Pichvai Tradition & Beyond, presents From India to Venice, a satellite event coinciding with La Biennale di Venezia, opening Wednesday, 6th May at the Palazzo Barbaro. The exhibition brings the four-century-old Pichwai tradition of Nathdwara, Rajasthan into dialogue with the architectural and cultural landscape of Venice.

Conceptualised and developed in collaboration with art historian and curator Elizabeth Royer, who lives between Paris and Venice, and Michele Codoni, the presentation positions a deeply devotional Indian art form within an international contemporary context.

Traditionally created as hand-painted textiles hung behind the idol of Shrinathji, a cherubic incarnation of Lord Krishna, Pichwais depict temple rituals, seasonal cycles, and sacred geographies through detailed compositions. Over the past decade, Pooja Singhal has worked with artists in Nathdwara to restore the rigour of the practice while extending its vocabulary through new formats, materials, and scales. The atelier today operates through a model where senior artists train younger practitioners within a lineage-based system, ensuring continuity while adapting the practice to contemporary contexts.

From India, to Venice builds from key visual forms within the Pichwai tradition, particularly the temple map. At the centre of the exhibition, comprising ten large scale works, is a series of reinterpretations of this intricate 400-year-old genre; once used to depict the haveli of Shrinathji and the town of Nathdwara, artworks are reimagined here through the city of Venice. This approach uses the established language of the tradition to render a new geography.

The exhibition also includes works rendered in khakha, the preparatory drawing method traditionally used by artisans to map large-scale Pichwai compositions. These finely structured line drawings and sketches offer insight into the architectural thinking that underpins the tradition. A large textile sketch work also draws from imagery of traditional pichwai, where the movement of figures finds a parallel in the visual language of Venetian Carnival.

This exhibition builds on Singhal’s earlier presentations across India and internationally, where Pichwai has been explored beyond the canvas through immersive formats. With From India to Venice, this approach finds new resonance within the context of Venice, offering a layered encounter with a living tradition as it moves across geographies.

Pooja Singhal is a collector, curator, cultural revivalist, and the founder of atelier Pichvai Tradition & Beyond. Her engagement with traditional arts is rooted in her familial heritage, shaped by a deep appreciation of Indian art, craft and culture.

Raised in a multi-generational business family from Udaipur, near Nathdwara, the epicentre of the Pichwai tradition, she was exposed to this tradition at an early age. Influenced by her mother’s patronage of the arts and royal craft traditions, she developed a strong commitment to cultural preservation. With a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and an international Master's degree in Business Administration from KATZ, University of Pittsburgh, she blends business strategy with art revival.

While part of a distinguished entrepreneurial lineage, she has forged an independent legacy in the cultural sphere. Her work has extended internationally, including a landmark large-scale exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London in 2025 that expanded the reach of the Pichwai tradition beyond India.

Working closely with artists trained within a centuries-old lineage, Pooja builds on existing skills while guiding the practice towards new forms of expression, shaping a contemporary language for the tradition. The works that emerge from the atelier retain their historical grounding while introducing a distinct contemporary voice, allowing the art form forge new paths across contexts and audiences.

Her contribution has played a significant role in expanding the scope of Pichwai, enabling it to engage with a wider global audience while continuing to evolve within a contemporary framework. An active member of key art foundations, Singhal is committed to sustain and promote India’s traditional arts.