Messages & Mediums: Decorative Arts from South Asia

South Asia Institute is proud to present Messages & Mediums: Decorative Art from South Asia, opening August 7, 2025.

Messages & Mediums explores the portrayal of South Asian themes across seemingly common items such as posters, stamps, and calendars. Pakistani postage stamps, for example, depict those who have made important contributions to the visual arts of the country during its modern period. These stamps exemplify the movement of art and ideas around vast expanses of space and time. Movie and tourism posters featured in the exhibition touch on themes of travel and shifting national interests, revealing tensions between public and private arbiters of culture across South Asia.

What role does art and visual culture play in the movement of ideas? Who constructs, sustains, or challenges the narratives they carry?

Visitors will have a chance to engage directly with these narratives through the work on display, samples of films represented in the exhibition, as well as a poster coloring activity. A curated selection of books from the Hundal Collection can be enjoyed at a reading table, allowing those interested in the history of popular artistic media to learn more. We hope visitors leave with a deeper appreciation for the power of artistic media to communicate complex and compelling messages.