14 November, 2026
03:00 PM - 04:00 PM
Aditya Birla Auditorium | On-site
ART MUMBAI is delighted to once again present a conversation about Women to Watch, an incredible initiative of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) which aims to increase the visibility of, and critical response to, promising women artists who are deserving of national and international attention.
For this panel we invite the selected artist, Indu Anthony, and consulting curator, Vidya Shivdas, from the South Asia Committee to speak about the themes of Indu's practices and creative processes. Indu's use of art to understand and represent the experiences of gendered bodies in public spaces, her commitment to community work and her creation of spaces for artistic expression and empowerment align with the ethos and vision of the National Museum for Women in the Arts.
At their core, both Indu's practice and NMWA's mission are driven by the same conviction: that women's voices, bodies, and creative labour deserve to be seen, supported, and centred rather than left at the margins.
This panel comes at an exciting time as 2027 marks the NMWA’s 40th anniversary, and the 20th anniversary of Women to Watch.
This panel is supported by the Saffronart Foundation.
Vasane by Indu Antony. Image courtesy the artist
Indu Antony is a multidisciplinary artist based in Bengaluru, India. Her practice explores feminism, gendered bodies, memory, and public space, often bringing together photography, sculpture, installation, textiles, publishing, and olfactory art. Her long-standing project Cecilia’ed examines the ways gendered bodies navigate and occupy public spaces. Deeply invested in community-led practices, Antony co-founded Kanike and founded Namma Katte, a women’s leisure space in Bengaluru. She also created Vāsané, an olfactory archive of Bengaluru, documenting the city through smell and memory. Antony founded Mazhi Books, an independent publishing initiative supporting women and alternative forms of storytelling, archiving, and self-publishing.
Vidya Shivadas is a curator based in New Delhi. She is the Director of the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art, a non-profit arts organisation that works in the field of art education and aims to broaden the audience for contemporary Indian art, enhance opportunities for artists, and establish a continuous dialogue between the arts and the public through education and active participation in public art projects. Shivadas has curated a number of exhibitions over the past two decades at museums, galleries and art festivals among others. Shivadas was Visiting Faculty at School of Culture and Creative Expressions, Ambedkar University Delhi between 2013 and 2025.
Veeranganakumari Solanki, a curator and writer based in Mumbai is interested in the way various forms and creative practices merge to create dialogues in public and private spaces with the convergence of images across disciplines. Her research and curatorial practice explore themes of memory, storytelling, time, and the way exhibitions can shape how we experience and understand art. Veerangana was the 2019 Brooks International Research Fellow at Tate Modern and a resident at the Delfina Foundation. She has previously worked as a programme director at Space Studio and The Gujral Foundation. She is a co-director of the SqwLab Foundation and a committee member of Mumbai’s NCPA Photography gallery.
Minal Vazirani co-founded Saffronart in 2000 and has been a driving force behind the auction house’s growth, leading efforts across strategy, business development, technology, and finance. Her leadership has been pivotal in expanding the company’s operations and establishing its presence in Mumbai, Delhi, New York, and London. She has been an avid art collector for nearly three decades and has curated and organised exhibitions of Indian art both in India and internationally. She is a co-founder of Art Mumbai, the city’s first dedicated art fair, featuring a meticulously curated array of modern and contemporary art from both India and South Asia as well as a robust roster of galleries and participation from foundations and distinguished art institutions. Minal has co-founded and leads the Saffronart Foundation, an arts organisation which aims to provoke and facilitate critical thinking with initiatives at the intersection of art, culture and social change. Additionally, she is the co-chair of the South Asia Acquisitions Committee at the Tate Modern, London, the chair of South Asia Committee for Women to Watch 2027 by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., and on the advisory board of St+art Mumbai Urban Art Festival (MUAF). She also serves on the advisory board of the Aangan Trust, an NGO working to protect children from harm and exploitation across India. She has also served on advisory boards for the Friends of Sir JJ School of Art Trust and Time Out India, and co-chaired the FICCI Committee on Arts and Business. A sought-after industry expert, Minal is a regular panellist and speaker at art and jewellery events. She was a fellow of the Inaugural Class of Ananta Aspen’s Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She has contributed to the Art Asia Pacific Almanac to reflect on the trajectory of Indian art, and in 2005, she led a review of the development of Saffronart when the Harvard Business School put together a case study on the company, which continues to be studied by MBA students globally. Before founding Saffronart, Minal worked as a management consultant with Booz, Allen & Hamilton in Mumbai, where she handled projects across industries in the U.S., Southeast Asia, and India. She holds an MBA from INSEAD in France, where she was awarded the Sasakawa Fellowship, and a BSc in Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering with a minors focus on Art History and Indian History from the University of California, Los Angeles.
