The Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA) today announced details of The Rooted Nomad, a unique exhibition on India’s most iconic contemporary artist, M.F. Husain (1915–2011). Presented at the Magazinni del Sale in Venice beginning April 18 and running through November 2024, this dual-format independent project, part exhibition and part immersive, resonates with the 2024 Venice Biennale’s theme of “Foreigners Everywhere.” The restless itinerant spirit of Husain, the breadth of experiences he gathered and the evocation of multiple journeys, forms the central core of the many constellations of his works presented here, making us dwell upon the ideas of mobility, migration, moving across borders and beyond fixed boundaries. The exhibition attempts to unpack expanded notions on the ‘yatra’ or journey both as a crux to civilizational ethos and artistic calling as well as a metaphor for transformation.

An early participation at the Venice Biennale in 1955, Husain was one of the first artists from India to present his works in Venice followed by him representing India at the Sao Paolo Biennale in 1971, alongside Pablo Picasso. Through the years, Husain articulated his syncretic vision of India as a richly layered cultural mosaic, both secular and sacred, unfolding in his kaleidoscopic imagery.

The exhibition, curated by Roobina Karode, Director and Chief Curator, KNMA and the curatorial team, is an intimate one that builds the narrative through his paintings, photographs, print, texts and poems leading viewers into an immersive experience designed by Visioni Srl, Rome—drawing on nearly 160 works by Husain from the KNMA Collection. Two years in the making, the complex production includes motion graphics, live action, 2D and 3D animation, choreography, and sound design, seamlessly blending together Husain’s versatile oeuvre to tell the complex story of this singular figure.