September is closing in fast, and with it, a genuinely rich stretch of exhibitions across Delhi and Mumbai. From feminist retrospectives to material-led explorations of migration, from a citywide gallery week to a landmark space opening, this is the kind of season that rewards actually getting off the couch. Here’s the trail worth following before the month runs out.
DELHI
Delhi Contemporary Art Week | Bikaner House
For a single-week, high-density survey of where South Asian contemporary art currently stands, Delhi Contemporary Art Week is the one to plan around. Six leading galleries — Blueprint 12, Exhibit 320, Gallery Expace, Latitude 28, Shrine Empire and Vadehra Art Gallery — come together under one roof, spotlighting both established names and emerging artists. This edition adds a Sculpture Show designed by Untitled Design, along with “Taqiya Kalam,” curated by Priyanshi S., which explores the entangled themes of language and domesticity.
On view August 31 to September 5, 2026, at Bikaner House, New Delhi.
Close | Far: Lean In, Step Back | Sameksha Gallery
Marking Sameksha Gallery’s first anniversary, “Close | Far: Lean In, Step Back,” curated by Yamini Telkar, takes a more formal question as its premise: how does physical scale shape emotional and perceptual intimacy? Kavita Nayyar, Vanita Gupta, Savya Jain and Aman Kumar Bavaria each approach that question differently, producing a show where where you stand genuinely changes what you see.
On view August 8 to September 12, 2026, at Sanatan: IILM Centre for Arts & Ideas, New Delhi, daily from 11:30 am to 6:30 pm.
Women on the Edge of Time | Vadehra Art Gallery
At Vadehra Art Gallery in Defence Colony, curator Linsey Young brings together nine artists — Anju Dodiya, Arpita Singh, Ashfika Rahman, Gurminder Sikand, Jai Chuhan, Jasleen Kaur, Leela Mukherjee, Mumtaz Karimjee and Sheba Chhachhi — for a show built around a single, radical inheritance. Taking its title from Marge Piercy’s landmark feminist novel, the exhibition traces bodily autonomy, ecology and feminist legacy across generations, letting artists working in wildly different mediums and moments sit in conversation with one another.
On view through September 18, 2026, at D-53 Defence Colony, New Delhi.
Between Dust and Distant Skies | LATITUDE 28
Sri Lankan multidisciplinary artist Pradeep Thalawatta’s “Between Dust and Distant Skies,” also curated by Rahul Kumar, is a more intimate, material-driven show. Working with tar, used sandpaper, wrapping paper and childhood objects, Thalawatta builds a visual language for conflict, migration and memory — asking how identity and the idea of home get shaped by images we don’t choose. The show spans painting, drawing, photography and material-led work, and rewards slow looking.
On view August 21 to September 19, 2026, at LATITUDE 28, B-74, Defence Colony, New Delhi.
Performing Belief | Kalakaar Art Salon
This is the big one for anyone interested in the sweep of modern Indian art. Curated by Rahul Kumar, “Performing Belief” unites 22 modern, folk, tribal and contemporary artists under one roof — a rare chance to see modernist heavyweights S. H. Raza, F. N. Souza and M. F. Husain alongside Jamini Roy, and folk and tribal practitioners like Bhuri Bai, plus contemporary voices Manu Parekh and Madhvi Parekh. The through-line is ritual: how belief gets performed, transmitted and embedded in everyday labour and memory, across traditions that rarely share wall space this directly.
On view August 13 to September 30, 2026, at Kalakaar Art Salon, New Delhi.
MUMBAI
The Urban Biome | KYNKYNY
Mumbai gets a new gallery address this season. “The Urban Biome” marks the opening of KYNKYNY’s new Mumbai space, curated by Vivek Radhakrishnan, with Krisha Bhuva, Hemanth Kumar, N. Divya, Nivedita Shinde, Simran Yagyik and Sunil K. exploring the tangled, interdependent relationships between humans, objects and environments — indoors and out — within India’s contemporary urban ecology. It’s a fitting inaugural theme for a gallery planting itself in a new city.
On view August 7 to September 4, 2026, at KYNKYNY, 4th Floor, No 20, Gool Mansion, 6 Homji Street, Horniman Circle, Mumbai.
Stories That Never End: Journeying with Shanu Lahiri | Project 88
Also in Mumbai, Project 88 hosts a career-spanning retrospective of pioneering artist Shanu Lahiri, curated by Tapati Guha-Thakurta and Nobina Gupta. “Stories That Never End” draws on paintings, sketches and archives to trace Lahiri’s modernist style, her engagement with mythic narrative, and her public art legacy — including Kolkata’s now-iconic hand-pulled rickshaw motif, one of the more unexpected and enduring images to come out of Indian public art practice.
On view August 13 to September 19, 2026, at Project 88, Ground Floor, BMP Building, N.A. Sawant Marg, Colaba, Mumbai.
Planning the Trail
With most of these shows closing between September 4 and September 30, the next few weeks are effectively the last window to catch this particular constellation of exhibitions. Delhi alone offers enough range — from Piercy-inspired feminist inheritance to a 22-artist survey of belief and ritual — to fill several afternoons, while Mumbai’s two shows, a brand-new gallery space and a major retrospective, are well worth the trip on their own. Whichever route you take, the common thread across all seven shows is remarkably consistent: artists using material, memory and scale to ask what gets carried forward, and what gets left behind.
