Among several imaginaries conjured by the Floating World, there is cosmology and a revolving earth-world; oceanic flows and cartographic representation of the globe’s topography; and an incremental growth in migration, transmission and transcultural traffic.

[In art history, Floating World is known to be the translated designation of Japanese Ukiyo-e woodcut prints produced during 17th to 19th centuries in Edo/Tokyo for a wealthy trading class in liaison with courtesans, actors and eccentrics—with themes extending also to landscapes, mythic tales and historical narratives.]

In the present exhibition, the sense of being afloat is diversely manifested: from the medieval Mappamundi in medallion form to a woven and wired world map; from parched earth-folds to river sacraments to the sail-and-tent of a voyager. From lofty cities to sleepers on the ground to paper scrolls that chart miniature homes or unravel a private life. From pendulum lamps to suspended texts…there is resilience, levitation and a passage across.

In a sense, the act of painting/ ‘crafting’ is itself in command of metaphors, so with all its thematic allusions, the Floating World is an exhibition calling attention to the surface of the image and image as surface.
- Geeta Kapu, New Delhi, March 3, 2014

Featured artists: Dhruvi Acharya, Atul Bhalla, Jayashree Chakravarty, N S Harsha, Reena Saini Kallat, Desmond Lazaro, Lavanya Mani, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Nilima Sheikh & Fayaz Ahmad Jan and Hema Upadhyay.

Image: © Hema Upadhyay
Courtesy of the artist and Galley Chemould