VENICE—The India Pavilion at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia presents "Geographies of Distance: remembering home," an exhibition addressing distance, memory, migration and belonging through the works of five contemporary artists.

Curated by Amin Jaffer, the exhibition brings together Alwar Balasubramaniam, Sumakshi Singh, Ranjani Shettar, Skarma Sonam Tashi and Asim Waqif. Their works transform ancient and everyday materials into reflections on cultural identity.

Craft serves as both the conceptual and material foundation. Jaffer said the chosen mediums were central to the project's meaning.

"Firstly, I felt that the materials used in the Pavilion should themselves evoke home," Jaffer said. "The choice of materials—earth, thread, cloth, bamboo, papier-mâché—is significant because they play a role in Indian culture, design and decorative arts."

These materials guide visitors through installations within the Arsenale's Isolotto. The works feature fractured landscapes, suspended structures, vernacular dwellings and evolving frameworks.

The pavilion positions material knowledge as a living archive, demonstrating how personal and collective histories can be carried across generations even as places transform or disappear.

Jaffer said he wanted visitors to grasp the depth of what the materials represent. "I very much wanted visitors to the Pavilion to understand that the five artworks are not just made of Indian materials, but of materials that have a deep significance in Indian civilisation and identity."

Home appears in multiple forms throughout the exhibition, from cracked earth and remembered architecture to suspended gardens and fragile settlements.

"Visitors move between different manifestations of home: the fractured ground beneath our feet, the fragmented thread house, immersive suspended garden, the cluster of vernacular houses and finally the bamboo scaffolding which symbolizes change," Jaffer said.

Sumakshi Singh's piece, "Permanent Address," reconstructs fragments of her demolished family home in New Delhi using delicate white thread, memorializing a house once inhabited by five generations.

"In Permanent Address, viewers walk through life-sized fragments of my demolished family home created entirely in translucent, white thread," Singh said.

The India Pavilion is presented by the Ministry of Culture in partnership with the NMACC and Serendipity Arts. Its inauguration highlighted India's expanding cultural engagement on a global scale.

Addressing the gathering, Minister Shekhawat underscored the government's vision of "Vikas Bhi, Virasat Bhi"—development alongside heritage—as the framework guiding India's participation and its commitment to cultural dialogue.